The Life of a Cerberus Assault Trooper (Chapter 7 up!)
by maverick1971kit
Summary: As we all know from Mass Effect 3, Assault Troopers suck. They have no protection, no firepower, and from our experiences with dealing with them, no "Super Special Forces Training". Follow Bob: one Assault Trooper that constantly deals with impossible missions, and his long streaks of bad luck. Rated "T", for mild language, excessive violence, and Renegade Commander Shepard.
1. Prologue

_**Well guys I'm back. Don't worry, I'm not some guy thats ripping off this fanfic. I am Mav. I'm just, well, different. I'm taller, smarter, and, more experienced at life. But wait, before you tell me that I'm insulting him, let me just remind you that that's how most people would compare themselves, to their own predecessors of age. ****So, if it wasn't obvious before, it's me. I lost my Email Account a while ago, and because of that, I had to abandon the account altogether.**_

_**It's been a while since I've written a fanfic, and I kind of changed my writing style, so, I might have differently styled stories. **_

_**But right now, I want to work on this fanfic again, since, well, I love the idea. I'm bringing it back to life, after starving it to death during the school year. Unfortunately, I forgot what the protagonist's name was (Give me a break, it's been a few months), so, I'm giving him a new one. Maybe Bob...yeah, Bob!**_

_**...So, as I've said before: I don't own Mass Effect. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. I'd be writing the lines of Sovereign: The resurrected Commander Shepard gone wrong. He is also Grunt's man-child.**_

* * *

Time...seemed relative to a cup of Krogan Liquor. At first, you're trapped in the sentient mass of excruciatingly sluggish movements, tormenting you with the essence of inaction itself. Later on, things go faster, and faster, until you're thrust into the world at a brisk pace. At this point, events around you speed up, until the mere sight of them lasts for milliseconds. Unfortunately, as these events are fast, their impacts slam into your unprepared state. Through your gasping breaths, you wish for the steady slowness that you were born in. But, it's too late; the hours are forever lost, and you're left with the cruel, reckless forms coming at you. Then you throw up.

I mean, that's how time works...right?

Well...that's how Bob always thought it worked. However, he didn't notice how frightening it was, that the event he's in right now matches his interpretation of time. He was just worried about how he was going to get out of it.

It all really pissed him off though. He spent three years of hell in a Cerberus Training facility, and Two years of working here, doing nothing but staring at other people, who are also staring at people, staring at people, who stare at Rachni and Husks. But, it all just landed him in this situation, and his entire military career was going to end in a few seconds, by a Krogan with incendiary rounds, a Quarian with a cracked visor, and a large man, with pink N7 Armor.

But, before Bob could make any escape attempts, a giant orange wheel lit up in front of the N7 soldier. Strangely enough, the wheel seemed to be surrounded by different phrases of different natures...very different natures. As the soldier was staring at it, while rotating an arrow around with his hand, Bob silently, as if it were out of instinct, read the words that circled it.

"Investigate"

"Hey look, this guy's hurt. Give him some medi-gel Tali."

"We can't let this guy live. He might cause trouble."

"Lets torture him, and send him back to Cerbe- WHAT?"

Oh God, this was some sort of decision making device that oversaw his moral values and instincts! Bob was about to get the hell out of there, when the Commander looked up with a cold gaze that froze him in his tracks. The cruel scowl, illuminated by the seemingly comforting glow of the wheel seemed to stop time altogether. Unfortunately, that scowl turned into a fake smile, and he selected the option on the wheel that was on the bottom right.

"Oh, hey look, a Cerberus Trooper! Lets mutilate his corpse, and send it back to Cerberus, just in case they have any bright ideas on pursuing us...". The Commander leaped for joy, at Bob's dismay.

The Krogan standing next to him made a sadistic grin, so large that it seemed to open up the scars on his already battle-torn face. But the Quarian with the broken mask was worrying too much about getting the "air-plague".

"Keelah Shepard, I really need to get back to the Normandy. I don't think Medi-Gel could fix this.", said the frightened engineer.

The Commander, almost comically, turned his head toward the Quarian with a face, literally fuming with an anger that could burn through a reaper!

"SHUT UP TALI I'M TALKING SO GET YOUR LAZY ASS BACK TO THE SHIP!", screamed the Commander. At the same time, the sign that numbered the amount of renegade points that the Commander had, was changed from +8 Renegade, to +20. It didn't last long when the Commander shouted again, saying, "AND YOU! THIS IS WHAT I THINK OF YOU!" He grabbed the Renegade sign out of the air, and proceeded to beat Bob to death with it.

"Wait...wait, please don't do this! I didn't even shoot you!", pleaded the horrified trooper.

But it was too late. The Red star on the bludgeoning tool to seemed to blend in with the blood that it came in contact with. The sight of the screeching Commander, creating a fountain of gore with every impact caused the Krogan to join in. Meanwhile, the Quarian laid on the ground behind them, twitching, but unresponsive to the situation at the moment.

+30 Renegade

+40 Renegade

+50 Renegade

+60 Renegade

Yep. Bob was convinced that those numbers were going to be the last thing he was ever going to see.

* * *

_**Alright guys, so, I've decided to change the point of view in the story to third-person, since it just worked better. I mean, who has a good enough memory, to know every single detail of the event? But, don't worry. The narrator will say things in the style of each character's personality. **_

_**Also, this story won't be full-on, "silly-silliness". I'll try to make this story have a sort of, "Serious-Funniness". But enough with the oxymoron's right now. Go ahead and tell me what you think about this first chapter. Tell me what you like, and dislike, and I'll try to make improvements according to your comments. **_

_**But don't worry, I can assure you that the chapters after this, will be longer.**_


	2. I'm Alive

_**Alright guys, I'll try to make this one longer. Sorry about the previous chapter, I'm...not really the best at writing a prologue, but I can make a really good epilogue. So good, I think I'll end the story right now, and jump straight to it!**_

_** sweman: I understand what you mean. A bunch of people liked the fun nature of the original story, and this prologue is a lot different from it. Now that this story is taking place near Mass Effect 3 at the moment, I'll try, to the best of my ability to maintain what I got right in my first story. **_

_**However, since this chapter is more of a, "Jump-Start" to the story, it'll be more conversation based.**_

* * *

"Shit!"

"He's alive! What the hell?"

"Someone get a guardian in here!"

Bob woke up, gasping for breath as he struggled to get up from the table, as was his instinct, when his previous memory included a giant red star, and a Krogan trying to eat his face. Multiple arms and hands that held him down did nothing to stop his attempt at escaping.

"Hey! Bob, it's us! Stop struggling!", shouted an officer who gave him a good left hook to the face.

Bob tightened his grip on the researchers' arms as he surveyed the environment. It looked like a medical lab, with various cutting tools, body parts, and laser...thingies strewn around the area. He started to squirm again, more ferociously this time, until he caught sight of the familiar Cerberus insignia, with that same, cool little hexagon. Calming himself down, he decided to make conversation with the nice people pointing assault rifles at him.

"Uh...hey guys! It's great to see you again! I really don't know how you managed to put me back together so well, I mean, hey, you got my arm on my body again, my mouth is not on my neck...oh hey, I can move my toes!". He lifted up his feat and wiggled his toes, while nodding like a madman. "Nice job! I'm surprised that you didn't get jobs at the Citadel as doctors, I thought I was done for!" He looked up again at the workers, but frowned in disappointment as he saw a shocked face on every person he stared at. He slowly pulled his legs closer to his torso, and thought of the...likely possibility that something had gone wrong. A sense of dread entered his body, and would have caused him to panic again, if it weren't for a man in a huge suit of armor, that marched into the room.

"Alright everybody, show's over, get out of here."

Before everyone started walking out, a man piped up in anger."Hey! You can't just leave him without letting us watch over him. We don't know if his body's stable!"

The armored soldier seemed to stare daggers at the man, even with his almost cumbersome-looking helmet on. "Unless you think that those scissors in your hand could take on my rifle, you'd better get the hell out of here before we start putting you back together too.", threatened the seemingly calm officer.

If Bob was looking for any hint of defiance left in the researcher at that moment, he couldn't find any. Before he knew it, he had vanished, as if he had never been in the room. The intimidating officer looked at the frail, miserable person in front of him, who was attempting to phase into the table...as if that was going to help him! "So, you do realize that you just scared the hell out of all those researchers back there.", he asked with a surprisingly calm tone.

"Yeah, I guess I did. I'm scared about being alive too."

"Was that a joke?"

"Not really, I remember getting mutilated by a squad of aliens lead by an Alliance marine. So, I have a feeling that I'm not all that healthy right now."

The trooper laughed at that comment, although, Bob wasn't sure if he was laughing about him getting mutilated, or his doubt about life. "You must have had a run-in with Commander Shepard!"

Bob sat straight up at the mention of the word. He spoke up, saying with a mildly frightened tone, "Wait, the famed 'Savior of Skyllian Blitz'? No no no, it can't be him. The guy, and his pet Krogan just tried to strangle me with my own intestines!"

The soldier sat down on a stool, and set his rifle against the table Bob was laying on, even though it was out of his own reach. "You know, you don't have to be a good-guy to be known as a hero. You just have to make sure that your deeds outshine your atrocities, because once a person's enemy causes some trouble, it'll be very hard to want to like them. If you're fighting the kind of guys who eats infants, you tend to not care if your savior is forcing them into cannibalism.". He laughed again. "Sympathy is the kind of thing that leads to prosecuting people who are committing war crimes. But, the good works of the hero blinds you from the implications of how his or her actions affect them. Then, it gets all covered up, because you'll know that his crimes will make other people (who have an impersonal relationship to the event) upset, and want to execute the person. You won't care anyways, because those bad-guys were bad-news."

Bob looked at him in amazement, totally misjudging him as a stereotypical Drill Sergeant Badass. "Hey, you didn't have to explain Human nature to me. I was just wondering. Still, did you guys get rid of him?"

"Well, that's why I went on a semi-long explanation of explaining the event. See, while you were, uh...'asleep', Commander Shepard might have saved the Citadel from the Geth and the giant reaper 'Sovereign'. Everyone, except the councilors idolized him. Entire generations of aliens would have been wiped out if the Commander didn't help save the Citadel. Unfortunately for billions of people, he was killed by the Collectors during a mission patrolling the Outer Council Space. Even worse, those bugs started abducting people, right out of their impoverished colonies! Now, everyone wants to fight the Collectors, because of the bloody mess they made!". At this point, the man had started to raise his voice, even to the point of yelling the vowels that appear in every word that came out of his mouth.

Yet, Bob remained frozen in his seat, deeply contemplating everything that he was hearing. "So what you're saying, is that Commander Shepard's dead! Oh God, this is a fucking miracle!", exclaimed Bob with a ferocious tone that blurred the line between joy, and madness.

"The hell? Were you even listening to what I was saying? Commander Shepard, the savior of thousands of lives, died!"

"And...the butcher of an innocent trooper, stationed on a crappy base in Nepheron! What do you want me to do, grieve for him?"

"Why do you think that I went on that little speech about sympathy? Commander Shepard is an ass! I get it. He incinerated baby seals, and threw them at a mob that was trying to steal his copy of _Galaxy of Fantasy X_! But we needed him! He is the public's hero, and he was the only one that could be so exceptionally evil, to demoralize the Collectors. No one will care what he does to them!". The soldier looked up again, and saw a look of horror on Bob's face.

"Wait, you...needed him? Damn it...damn you all to hell, you brought him back didn't you?". Bob was just pacing around the room at this point, while simultaneously counting the days he had left to live. _  
_

"Look, lots of people were going to die without him. Cerberus already has a bad start, in terms of public opinion! No one will let us even think about pulling up the impalement poles! But Commander Shepard does better at this stuff than us, and people will love him for it. The Collectors can't be defeated, unless you scare the hell out of them! So...we resurrected him through the Lazarus Project, and sent him on a task to assemble a team to help him commit atrocities."

"You let him loose out there?"

"Listen...he's far away from us, and unable to hurt anybody. He's smart enough to know that he'll be prosecuted for anything harm he does to innocents. The only things he's hurting are the Collectors, and a bunch of mercenaries that get in the way. Just...trust us.". The officer maintained a surprisingly calm voice, despite the fact that he was dealing with an angry little man, who was dangerously close to the rifle laid near the bed.

Bob sat down again, and stayed silent for a few moments. Eventually, he spoke up, but winced when it came out like a prolonged sequence of creaking voices. More confidently, he said, "Alright. Fine...I'm sorry, I just really don't like dying. The feeling is unpleasant, you know?". Bob was about to smile, until he noticed the one, fatally important detail that he had overlooked in his questions, and accusations: "How long was I dead?".

"Well, this took you a while to ask..."

"Tell me!", Bob pleaded.

The soldier looked up, and sighed at the wounded commando in front of him. "Two years."

Bob...just laughed as he laid on the table helplessly. Of course it took two years...

"The Shepard...made a mess at Nepheron. We were in the process of creating the foundations of the Lazarus Project during this. To see if a total reconstruction of the body and mind is possible, we took the remains of everyone at the base, and tested them...yours included. The costs were immense, and the Illusive Man didn't want to spend billions of credits on a mere test, so we took the muck behind every kitchen sink, and stuck it inside of you guys. This trial contributed towards the real Lazarus Project, that was used for Shepard. There were a hundred and twenty tests, and a hundred and nineteen didn't even create a realistic bio-structure. Their bodies either fell apart, or grew inactive, because of the failures in the reconstruction of the brain.". He looked up and saw Bob taking it all in, while trying to poke his hands to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. "You were that lucky number one-hundred and twenty. We got you right, but your body seemed to be getting worse, and worse. None of us thought you were going to make it; we were going to dump you tomorrow, since we were still caught up in the success of Shepard's resurrection, and your inaction...yeah. That's about it."

Bob eyed the equipment in the lab, and then looked at the man. "So...is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Well, now that the two years past, we've moved on from guns with unlimited ammo, and started using guns with twenty-first century styled magazines for some reason. Also, uh...you might have to redo training again, since, we no longer do 'Commando Units', anymore. You're going to get armor just like mine, just...without shields. We also got ninjas, spartans, and mechs in our army, thanks to funding from an anonymous source. But right now, we're just stockpiling it all, since Shepard's doing the work for us. So, we're going to give you your "Assault Trooper" training, and give you an office job. Also, my name's Knight. So...goodbye."

...And he didn't even shut the door on his way out.

* * *

Bob was fortunate to have been given a year to work out his feelings over the mass of revelations that tried to suffocate him in his sleep. I mean, staying sane despite hearing about things like resurrected psychopaths, being missing for two years, mass differences in technology, and "moar" reapers is a pretty impressive feat. But now, things seemed to have gotten better, in this age of pure pandemonium. The Commander and his squad defeated the Collectors with no casualties, and even donated the base to Cerberus, for the benefit of Humanity! But most of all, Bob hadn't died yet. Cerberus didn't even seem like the militant Alliance cell that everyone claimed it to be. It working for the well-being for every, single, living creature. Every sort of grime that had latched on to the organization caused no more afflictions, and hope seemed to be present for the Assault Trooper in everyday life. Anonymity was an action unheard of, as Cerberus was finally assimilated into the sentient union of life and acceptance in the troubled galaxy.

Then...it all ended when Knight came to talk to him during shore-leave.

"Oh...hey. Listen, Commander Shepard blew up a Solar System with a Mass Relay."

Bob dropped his cup of ramen, as a result of his body trying to overcome shock, yet, completely failing, and causing himself to literally freeze in his posture. Strangely enough, the cup of ramen floated off, as if invisible little hands were carrying it. Bob uttered only a few, but totally understandable words. "Pure evil...is back?"

"Also, as reported by a mangled up spy, sent up to us as a message, said that Shepard has gone to war with Cerberus."

The Assault Trooper looked around, and saw countless silhouettes circling both of them. His body started shaking with anger, and seemed to synchronize with the steady movements of the figures converging with them. His voice seemed to also, as he screamed at the same time the forms charged toward the two.

"Fuuuuuuuccckck!"

* * *

_**Alright, don't worry. My old style of using the hilarious antics of Cerberus Troopers is coming back. This just introduced the whole conflict that was coming together. Feel free to review, and, thanks for reading this far. I'll try to get the next chapter in soon.**_


	3. We're Screwed

"What the hell is this? This isn't armor!"

Bob's year of "training" had come and gone by, which only served to impede him doing his daily tasks. Anything beneficial that had arisen from the course couldn't be found by him, as he still found himself almost the same as when he first came into it.

Cerberus seemed to be a sort of primitive hierarchy that contained the most important item you could ever obtain at the top: respect. This hierarchy, crisscrossed in admiration between positions, included a progression system that had been painfully obvious to the Assault Troopers, who are at the bottom of this system. Physical power and an expertise in warfare seemed to earn respect from all Cerberus personnel, but what separated this from the plain definition of a person who deserved reverence, was that courage, and bravery didn't earn you anything. Many officers, after looking at a report from the first Cerberus combat operation, immediately associated heroics with death itself, considering that all one hundred of the commandos who had made a charge against a Krogan hoard, perished. It didn't matter if the trooper was willing to give his life for Cerberus. It mattered, if he didn't lose it in combat. Death, leads to an undermined military strength, that may cause the organization time, and money, which could be avoided if the participant has the necessary abilities. Thus, the strong is loved by both his, or her comrades, and those..."higher-up". Even though the traditional military rank system exists in Cerberus, it is often overshadowed by greed, and a barbaric desire for military strength.

The training for Assault Troopers only included repetitious tasks, which only served to show you how to avoid getting shot, and how to intimidate civilians. With that lack of combat training, it made sense that the group was entangled in the bottom of the system, while being glared upon by those above them, who only could only see cannon-fodder.

Yet Bob, whose luck had seemed to be tolerant of him, was forced into the position of a member of the "Assault Troopers". The thoughts that used to cause him to become enamored with Cerberus, fell into a huge contempt that afflicted the mindset of his every action, as if each decision needed an opinion, and he carried a bias that wanted the opposite of what Cerberus wanted. Adding on to this, the tested Lazarus Project failed to restore his biotic abilities, so his only remnant of true combat training was his skills in weaponry, which was only "sub-par", compared to the training troops such as the "Nemesis" and "Centurions" earned.

Only to make everything worse, the armor that Assault Troopers wore, provided absolutely no protection at all. In fact, it served to only make the military look professional. This armor's lack of the principles of preservation, compared to Bob's old, but resilient biotic commando armor frustrated him to no end, probably due to the fact that his life expectancy was going to be shortened by another fifty years.

"This isn't even steel! This is plastic, fucking plastic!"

Knight, after losing the patience he had been developing for years as a high ranking Centurion, stormed up to Bob.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Why are we wearing plastic costumes as armor? I'm going to die out there!"

"Look, we have way too many Assault Troopers. You guys are more for, uh, distracting the enemy, while we take them out."

"What?"

"Don't worry, you've never met the other units. They know how to kill. You don't need to worry about anything, anymore. Hell, you Assault Troopers have the easiest jobs. All you need to do, is to make the enemy come out, and get themselves killed. You won't get touched, at all."

Bob paused for a little bit, before staring down the corridor in front of them. "Fine...I trust you. I'm going to get to know the other members of the unit."

Knight literally jumped in front of the hallway, before the Assault Trooper had even moved toward it. "Hey...don't go in there. You don't want to talk to them...", he nervously stated.

"What do you mean, what's wrong with them?"

"They aren't the...right sort of bunch you'd want to talk with."

"I'm going to have to talk with them eventually. I mean, if I'm going to spend a majority of my life here, I'm going to need to make some friends, since all the crazy experiments, assassinations, and kidnappings would scare most people away from me."

* * *

Bob walked into the corridor. But, strangely enough, the area seemed to have a foreboding atmosphere, that threatened to overtake him in every step. In a space station, populated with the worse Cerberus had to offer, in all its abominations and contempt for morality, this environment may carry the worst of it all.

And he only took a few steps in.

Bob walked up to a door that said, in dark, bold letters: "Combat Engineer". He opened the door.

"CLOSE THE DOOR, CLOSE IT!"

Bob closed it immediately, and heard a loud bang a moment after. Fearing for the engineer's safety, he opened it again, and saw the room, illuminated by small, numerous flames that inhabited the room. He saw a lone engineer, with a cracked golden visor, and scorched armor that immediately ruined the image of the invincibility of Cerberus units. He ran to the injured soldier, and helped him stand up.

"Ok...ok, I'm good. Thanks man.", the Engineer said as he straightened himself up. "Oh hey, you're the new Assault Trooper that Knight was talking about! What's your name, friend?"

"Bob, it's good to see y-, wait, I'm the 'new' trooper? I thought I was your first!"

"First? Oh God that's hilarious!". The engineer suddenly changed his friendly character, and broke out laughing uncontrollably. "You're about our fifth by now! Our fourth guy got eaten by a bunch of husks that got out of a lab!". He looked up and saw the Assault Trooper beginning to leave the room. "Alright, alright, I'm just kidding, I'm sorry. Our first guy was a prick who left us for another team, who he thought would protect him from gunfire better. You're only our second guy."

Bob sighed, and extended his hand toward the Engineer. "Hey look, I'm sorry."

"The name's Frank."The Engineer met his hand, and gestured towards the rest of his room. "So, what do you think about my work?"

Bob looked around and saw an assortment of technology, which included a podium dedicated to a bunch of over-sized omnitools, a pile of hard drives just laying in a corner, a stolen, but dissassembled "LOKI" mech that was painted in black, a few turrets, and a bunch of scrap strewn around the area. "Wow, do all Combat Engineers do this?"

"Heh, they wish. I've got a certain...passion about technology. People may remind me that I'm made of flesh...but I'll make a remedy for that. You can't be the eccentric person you are, without an isolated machine inside of you.". Frank cautiously held up a microchip that had been in his back pocket. "And I'm going to remind everyone of that machine, and how much it hates everybody."

Bob gave the Engineer a strange look from inside the safety of his helmet.

"You see those omni-tools? Those are my handy work, not those 'Kassa Fabrications' guys. No, this is quality work, that doesn't deserve to be used against the scum Cerberus usually deals with, but, they're the only ones I've got."

Bob walked up to the podium, and picked up a rather unusual green omnitool. "Cool, how does this one wor-"

"PUT IT DOWN!", screamed an armed Engineer.

Bob, looked up at him, and saw that the Engineer was pointing his Phalanx at him. He looked at the omni-tool, and back at him. "Put, _this_ down?"

"YES, PUT IT DOWN, BEFORE I GUT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF YOU WITH THIS GUN!"

Bob, gently set the crude instrument down, and kept his hands in the air.

"YOU HAVE NO RESPECT FOR THE SANCTITY OF TECHNOLOGY! YOU'RE LOOKING TO TAINT THIS, TAINT ALL OF IT! I'M FINE WITH BEING A FRIEND, BUT IF YOU'RE GOING TO DESTROY MY WORK AND SERVICE FOR THE GOOD OF EVERYTHING NON-LIVING, AND LIVING. YOU'RE A MONSTER, A MONSTER THAT WANTS TO PREVENT PROGRESS. YOU DON'T WANT TO EXIST DO YOU?"

Frank's voice echoed around the room, giving him a sense of omnipotence. What Bob saw was a soldier pointing his gun at him, who was silhouetted by the fires that spread behind the two, while revealing his true appearance every time the wires released a volley of sparks, which provided him his own look of manipulated existence, by flickering between darkness, and dim lighting. Too scared to even try disarming him, Bob spoke up. "Hey...listen, I'm sorry about touching the omni-tool. Ca-can you please put the gun dow-"

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

* * *

Bob found another door in the hallway that was labeled "Guardian". The door opened up, revealing a giant soldier, fully equipped in combat gear.

"Oh...hello there.", said the Guardian with a voice that sounded crisp, and worn.

"Hey. I'm just visiting the squad, to get to know them better."

The taller soldier in front of Bob stared silently at him, as if he was studying his every movement. "It's good to meet you...uh..."

"Bob."

"Yeah...good to see you Bob. My name's Ross. After twenty-three years of dealing with bullshit from the guys I have to work with everyday, it's good to see one of the friendly types."

Bob smiled underneath his helmet. After what he dealt with from the previous room he visited, this soldier convinced him that working in Cerberus wasn't a giant acid trip that had cloaked in order, and regulations. "Thanks. You don't seem to be like the guys I usually see in this station."

"Ah...you visited Frank didn't you?"

"Yes...I did."

"Showed you his collection?"

"He did."

"Pulled a gun on you?"

"Yep."

Ross sighed. "Listen. I joined Cerberus because I thought that it was the best way to help everybody. The Alliance spends too much time with aliens, while forgetting all the Human affairs, and problems that existed before the Mass Relays. I mean, I know what Cerberus does, and it's wrong, but sometimes, you have to bad things, that benefits everyone not caught in the crossfire, and there are a lot of people that we don't touch. But the shit we do...it changes you. You...your essentially pure. We're running out of that in the galaxy. You don't deserve to be part of this organization, but me? I'm stuck in it, I'm finished with everything good, and I only exist to help those above me survive things that are down to my level."

Bob looked at him in admiration, but looked at himself in pure guilt. "I, uh, wish I could say that I joined for the same reasons as you did, but I can't. I only joined because I wanted to be good at things, and at the time, it seemed like Cerberus had the best to offer."

"Yet...you're an Assault Trooper."

"I know, and I really hate it. Believe me, it wasn't my choice. I'd want to be a Centurion, like Knight."

Ross invited Bob into the Room, and closed the door. "I need to tell you something."

Bob gave him an unusual look as he sat down on a bench, next to a perched shield that seemed to have a Katana sticking out of it.

"First of all, go ahead and get to know the rest of the squad. I mean, we all have that friend we disagree with. But...don't ever turn into them. They're probably the best people I've ever worked with, and they aren't bad at all. But, each of them has a glaring fault that's making a point to get noticed. Their personality, combined with Cerberus' fetish for monstrosities, leads to a whole nother' level of messed up shit.

Bob eyed the "Talon" pistols on the wall next to them. "They won't kill me, will they?", he said cautiously.

"Kill you intentionally? No. They're good workers, just crazy. Frank was just trying to scare you off, although...he would have shot you, if you tried to attack him in self-defense."

"Oh...good.". Looking to change the subject, he asked Ross, "So, how's it like being a Guardian?"

"Great. You just have to hide behind an impenetrable shield, while blind-firing with your pistol. As long as you stay under the 'mail slot', as people like to call it, you're fine..."

* * *

Bob, checked himself to make sure his "armor" wasn't cracked, after accidentally getting hit by one of Ross' flying shields that Frank made for him.

He looked at another door next to him, labled: "Nemesis". He knocked on the door, which opened immediately. When it finished, a bright red light threatened to blind him through his non-protective helmet.

"Mrrahr a arh?", asked the Nemesis in a feminine, but electronically stuttered voice.

Bob, holding his face just slightly under his arm, asked, "Uh, what was that?"

"Ra-aa-aara fa minut as."

"Uh...can you talk through that helmet?"

"Ooop."

"You mind removing the helmet then?"

"EEEt, awawawa las lla icros!", she punched him in the face, with her fist easily breaking through the soft plastic coating that was his helmet. "Yu buerrta gitaout huyheeer!". She slammed her fist on a button that immediately closed the door shut.

* * *

Bob groaned as he forced himself up from the ground, and walked to a door that said: "Dragoon".

"Hey, woah...what happened to your helmet?"

"I met the Nemesis."

The Dragoon, under his helmet chuckled. "Heh, you shouldn't have messed with Sarah. Those implants messed her up, and I think I remember her beating the crap out of an Omega civilian who'd been eyeing her for too long. You might have gotten lucky, oh, hey, you should come inside. It's not safe talking in this hallway."

Bob found that his room, had been relatively normal compared to the other two that he had visited. Florescent light bulbs shined over a small, lobby-like area, which occasionally carried a small "Hornet" Sub-Machine Gun, or pieces of armor on a table or two. "You don't seem to carry much equipment around here. Frank and Ross had an armory somewhere around their rooms."

"I get that a lot from Knight. But, with me, using my biotics all the time, I don't really have the need for guns, unless I'm in a tight spot."

"Oh, what Biotics do you use?"

He leaned against a wall next to him. "Well, I kind of manipulate the energy that I push out of me, into hard whips made out of biotic forces, and I lash at enemies with them."

Bob stared at him uneasily, with "whips" being a key word in his bewilderment. "...whips?"

"You got a problem with it? Because if you're going to make a 'BDSM' joke, I'm gonna kill you."

"What? No! I just thought it was an unusual weapon, that's all!"

"Well...good. You won't believe how many people have told me those jokes! I mean, I was fighting this Turian, who kept laughing at me, in the middle of combat! I took off his mandibles, but...god, was it embarrassing. If you want to find someone with a wierd fetish, ask Frank, and how he likes to make 'friends' with synthetics."

Bob looked back at the door, as if it allowed his eyes to stare through it, and directly at Frank's, whose mechanical environment had started to make an impact on everybody. "So...what's your story?"

"Me? Well...I used to work for C-Sec when I...I...ack!", he choked out, as he collapsed to the floor.

Bob proceeded to help him up, but was kicked away by the Dragoon.

"No! Listen, these biotic implants also mess with my head! I have a fit of uncontrollable rage every so often! YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I SNAP!"

"You don't need to tell me twice!", Bob sprinted toward the door, and pressed the button that was supposed to close the door.

"OH, I FORGOT TO TELL YOU! MY NAME'S LANCE! SEE YA!", he roared, as the door to his room closed.

* * *

Bob, in fear of nearly getting killed again, was reluctant to open the "Phantom" door. He was about to walk in the other direction, when he seemed to bump into something. He looked around, but saw nothing but air.

"You know, it's rude to knowingly ignore people right in front of you."

"Aaah!", he screamed, as he was caught off guard by the mysterious voice that broke the silence.

A female form finally appeared in front of him, arms crossed. "What? You've never seen a Phantom before?"

"I have...but you scared the crap out of me!"

"If you're scared of me, you're going to have a hard time with the kind of things we have to deal with...but you know what? I don't think that you're cut out for this kind of stuff...". She walked closer to the lone Assault Trooper, who was trapped by the locked door behind him.

"Hey...what are you doing?", he asked, with a hint of terror in his voice.

She brandished her sword. "Killing you.", she said, playfully.

"Wa-wa-WAIT! You don't want to do this."

"We need everyone in the squad ready for combat, and if anybody's weak...well, it'll cost us our lives. See ya later!"

"Please, don't do this!", he pleaded.

But...it was too late. She slashed his neck with his sword; the combined force of that, and of the swing itself threw himself back, as he held his neck, choking, and gasping for air.

Yet, the Phantom stared at him, with a look that was mixed with concern, and confusion. "Uh...why are you choking?". With her sword, he gently moved his hands away from his neck, and revealed that she only sliced the plastic collar, that went in front of his neck.

"Oh."

"Don't worry about it.". She helped him up, and patted him on the head. "If all Assault Troopers suck at their job, why should I kill you for being weak? It's like killing a Krogan because he was infertile!"

Bob, still frightened by that near-attempt at his life, shook hands with the Phantom. "My name's Bob, nice to, uh, meet you."

"Name's Apparition. Good to see that you're part of our squad. I already like you better than the first Assault Trooper we got."

"Your name is 'Apparition'?"

"Yeah. Kinda how 'Knight' got his name. You tend to get called names, if you're good enough at the job." She took a step back. "And me? Well, I got my name by doing this:" She immediately cloaked herself, and impressively enough, her movements had seemed to have silenced themselves.

"Wow. That's actually pretty cool. I can't tell if you're here, or not.", he said in approval. Bob, waited for her to reappear, until a whole minute of silence had gone by, as if she hadn't been there at all. "Hey, you could come out now...I get it." He heard nothing.

* * *

Cautiously looking around, he knocked on a door, which said: "Atlas Pilot.". To his surprise, he looked down, and saw that the door had an old-fashioned 21st Century door-nob. It twisted to the left, and revealed a man, wearing a white suit, and...an Assault Trooper helmet on top.

"Oh, you must be new here, come insi- WHAT IN GOD'S NAME HAPPENED TO YOU?", he demanded, in a British accent.

Bob, looking down on himself, finally noticed how badly wrecked his armor was, after visiting the other members of the squad. The fact that the armor was made out of plastic, didn't help hide the numerous scratches, holes, and cuts all over him.

The sharply dressed man sighed. "You visited the other members of our squad, didn't you?"

Bob returned with a nod.

"See, you won't have a problem with me. I, am a man of class. Come inside." He gestured towards his room.

The two walked in, revealing a huge room, decorated with wool floors, instruments from every age, and various parts of an old Atlas, immortalized in glass containers. Bob looked up, almost instinctively, and found two giant eyes, that were following him. On the ceiling, was a giant painting of the Mona Lisa!

"Holy shit! Does Cerberus always do this for its troops?"

"Nope. They..." He picked up a glass of wine, and poured it inside his helmet. "...recognized my raw talent, and gave me everything I wanted, all because they were reminiscent of the old days of class: the days, that they weren't born in."

"...What about the suit?"

"This? Since I'm an Atlas Pilot, and there's absolutely no chance of bullets getting to me. Cerberus permits us to wear anything we want, as long as we keep our helmet. But, some 'brutes' took advantage of this, and piloted their vehicles nude. But me? I'm just trying to get Humanity, out of a state that recently turned so...retrograde..."

Bob almost burst out laughing at the man, but kept himself silent, by pouring in another glass of wine inside his helmet.

"It's good to see that you have an appreciation for orderly conduct. The rest of the squad failed in any sort of attempt to give off gratitude for my show, of class. Especially Frank. In fact, he's too obsessed with the Atlas, to listen to anything I have to say."

"Yeah...I noticed that."

"Oh, my manners have suddenly turned poor! I forgot to tell you my name! Wait, tell me yours first please."

"Bob...my name's Bob."

The pilot stood up from his stool, and bowed slowly. "Louis...at your service."

* * *

Bob, relieved to see the last room, ran towards it, in the hope of reaching it before finally losing his sanity. The door, as if it heard his pleas for a normal person, said "Shuttle Pilot". Before opening the door, heard the faint sound of music behind it. He knocked on the door, but, didn't hear anything but music in return. He was about to leave, when the music suddenly grew louder behind him. He turned, and found a man with another Assault Trooper helmet, with sunglasses over it.

"Hey there! You must be the replacement Assault Trooper!". He shook hands with Bob. "My name's George. And yours?"

"Bob."

"Well...I know I don't have any authority to criticize you, but...really, Bob's your name? Isn't that a dull name?"

"Your name's George.", Bob said immediately.

"George is a good name! It's unique! But 'Bob', I mean, did you call yourself that because you're part of the Assault Troopers? You know, being a part of an army of drones, and calling yourself a generic name?"

"Hey...no call for that..."

"You know what, I'm trying to listen to my music! It's the only thing that's keeping me happy, so, you...need to get out."

Bob paused, and said, "Look, I'm sorry about insulting you George. How abo-"

"Nope. You're outta here.", George said as he literally kicked Bob out of the room.

* * *

Bob exited the room, and found Knight standing with his arms crossed, at the entrance of the corridor.

"Told you."

"I know..."

"Alright, make sure to get yourself armed in an hour, we're heading to Noveria to take over a base that had been reclaimed by Alliance forces."

"Any dangers?"

"Just a few squads of the self-proclaimed 'N7 Special Forces'. Should be nothing much, they're probably just a bunch of desperate mercenaries hired because of a lack of manpower..."


	4. N7 Special Forces?

_**Just to let you guys know, in case you'd forgotten over the last few chapters: I do not own Mass Effect, nor am I using it for profit. Also, on a side note: I do not own Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind". **_

* * *

_ "Like painted kites, those days and nights, they went flyin' by"_

Bob sat down in his seat with his elbow on top of his thigh, and his face perched on a closed fist. He looked outside the window of the shuttle, and saw the faint silhouettes of buildings, also blanketed by the cold embrace of a permanent sheet of snow that had never showed any signs of melting, even under the pressure of a looming sun. He looked closer, and saw that those structures had been overwhelmed by the climate.

"Those were Cerberus' early attempts at establishing a base here on Noveria. We weren't very smart back then.", said Ross, as he stared through the same window that Bob had his eyes glued to. "To be honest with you, I still don't think that the organization's very smart, even now..."

"You'd better watch yourself Ross, before somebody high up hears you.", said Knight from the opposite end of the shuttle.

"I think you should take that as a threat Ross, before he gets to you.", stated Apparition sarcastically.

Knight suddenly sat up in his seat, and pointed his rifle at the smug Phantom. "How about you shut up when ever I'm talking to the squad, you got it?"

The Phantom, seemingly indifferent to the situation, laid back, and crossed her legs as she spoke: "Alright, alright. I'm just playing around, don't make it such a big deal." For a few moments, the two held time in a standstill, neither moving in their positions, nor speaking.

"Guys, I-" Lance paused in shock of the sound of his voice overpowering the music in the background, and shattering the silence that had held the entire vehicle. "...I think we should just sit back, and save the shooting for the guys we're actually going to kill right now. If anybody should be making loud outbursts, it should be me."

George raised the volume of the music.

_ "The world was new beneath a blue, umbrella sky"_

An hour later, Frank opened up his omni-tool, and spoke into it. "Hey Louis, how's it goin' down there?"

All Atlas pilots, including Louis had the misfortune of being attached to the shuttle from underneath. They couldn't abandon the Atlas, or else some lucky guy would stumble unto it in the middle of battle, and tear the other troops apart. Louis, straightening himself up after dosing off for an hour, said "I'm having a wonderful time. Nothing like motion sickness, inside a vehicle with no open windows except the giant one in front of me!"

"Wow, your British sarcasm is really charming, you know. It really makes everyone feel better."

"Really...'British' sarcasm? You think my sort of humor is exclusive to all of us back home?"

"You're not even half British! You've got most of your blood from the French!"

"You know what? Since we're having such a pleasant conversation, how about I make some coffee, inside the Atlas? I mean, I worried though! I have such clumsy hands, I could spill them over the controls, and make a mess out of the machine!"

Frank's other hand gripped his omni-tool arm tightly. "Hey, HEY! If you mess up that Atlas, I'll kill YOU. If Cerberus has a problem with it, I'll tell them that I avenged someone YOU murdered!", the Combat Engineer responded, viciously.

From the uncomfortable spot next to Frank, the Nemesis "Sarah", shook her head, and grabbed her "Widow" Sniper Rifle.

Meanwhile, Louis still sat in the Atlas, bickering again and again, about continuous arguments, which started out philosophically about the worth of a machine's "life", but grew into an intense debate, that shifted sides dynamically between the idea that Frank is sane, and the truth that he was insane. "Listen, how about take your turrets, and mechs, and spend some quality time with them in private, God knows you need it."

At this point, the Engineer started screaming into his omni-tool, and producing a visible, golden static that appeared on Louis' end. "YOU SHUT UP! I WOULD NEVER TREAT ANYBODY THAT WAY, ESPECIALLY MY MACHINES! THEY'RE LIKE MY CHILDREN, ONLY THAT THEY CARRY A MORE OF A SENTIMENTAL FEELING, DUE TO TEXTILE CREATI-"

The comm grew silent. For a moment in silent triumph, Louis thought that he put Frank in his place, at his sloppy debate. But, as he waited for the frantic screams to appear in his ear again, he felt impatient, and spoke into his own. "Frank, what is going in there?"

A tense-sounding voice appeared instead: "Yeah...Sarah got pissed again. But, yes. He's still alive.", said Lance.

The music was turned up even higher.

_"Then softer than, a piper man, one day it called to you"_

Bob took a small glob of medi-gel, and without realizing that he had no idea how to use the substance, pasted it against Frank's entire head, so that his helmet carried the look of a giant, red ball. "Uh...did you really have to hit him so hard Sarah?"

The rest of the squad, even through their thick visors gave a noticeable, but nervous look at Bob and Sarah. Even Knight motioned his hands to attempt to keep the inexperienced Assault Trooper silent. But Bob, as if he were still a naive recruit, waited for the Nemesis' torturous inaction to end, without even contemplating the consequences of questioning the violent pursuits of the unstable sniper.

Sarah finally stood up, clutching her pistol, barrel in hand, and grip pointing out.

"You never learn, do you Bob?", stated a petrified Lance in the corner,

"She won't do it agai-"

George, tired of the background noise, turned up the music to the maximum limit, and drowned out the sounds that brutalized his attempt as peace. But Bob, as he laid on the floor in pain, only heard the distant echoes of the old twentieth-century music, trying to bury their nostalgic beauty into the safety of his memory.

_"I lost you, I lost you to the summer wi-"_

"WOULD YOU SHUT THAT CRAP UP! IT'S FUCKING ANNOYING ME!", yelled a clearly angered Dragoon.

"You shut your mouth Lance! You hate everything good!"

"THAT'S IT!" The Dragoon lunged at George, causing the entire shuttle to plunge dangerously close to the snow-covered land. Returning punches, and biotic slashes swung the entire vehicle, left to right.

Knight rose up again, and ran toward the two to break them apart. Unfortunately, he collided with a flying Bob, who had been tossed around unconsciously by the sudden movements. Cursing, he pushed his body off, and ran again, until he collided with the unconscious, but airborne Frank, with his medi-gel covered head. The Centurion looked up, and found himself stuck to the Engineer because of the sticky substance. As he struggled to escape from the unusual grip, he was once again hit by Bob, this time in the side of the head.

Apparition, with a rare look of horror, stared at the scene, and its bizarre imagery. Struggling to maintain the calm voice and composure she held for years, she spoke over the chaos to no avail.: "Hey...Knight, you alright?" Unfortunately, she found that the Centurion had been knocked out, and joined in the sentient muck of flying, throbbing, pain.

"What in bloody hell is going on up there? My Atlas is only a few feet from the ground, and you guys are swinging it like a toy!", said a voice over everyone's omni-tools.

"Lance...insulted George's music.", said an annoyed Ross, who had been holding his shield in front of his face the entire time.

"Oh God! Please, you guys up there have to break them up, or else we won't make it to the base!"

"Fine. Sarah, Apparition, help me take Lance out. Beat the hell out of George, but keep him conscious. We need him to drive." Sarah stood up immediately, while Apparition, a tad bit hesitant, shook her head. "Apparition...come on. You're better than thi-", Ross jerked to the side suddenly. "...Damn! Ack...You're better than this!" Apparition, finally pulling herself together, stood up triumphantly. Unfortunately again, a flying Centurion-Engineer hybrid hit her in the face. Hard.

"Ephaa...Lt gee miiing.", stated the Nemesis, who had suddenly started shaking her head in shame.

The two pushed through the shuttle, leaning on each other for support. A flying Bob knocked both of them to the floor. Looking up, Sarah rolled over, just in time before Knight, and Frank crushed her neck. Ross pulled himself up, and grabbed Lance, still in his fit of rage. Suddenly, the Dragoon headbutted him, and launched him back to the end of the shuttle with his whips. The victor was about to go back, and continue fighting the wounded George, but was interrupted by a rifle to the face. He fell forward to the ground immediately, and slid to the back, where his fellow unresponsive comrades greeted him. The furious Nemesis then, pointed her gun toward the shocked pilot.

"Deeerriiive!"

George then, commanded the controls to stabilize the shuttle's erratic flight path. "I think I understood that one...", he nervously stated, as he looked back at the figure behind him.

* * *

A few moments after the incident, a volley of groans finally arrived, which signaled the synchronized awakening of the squad-mates...somehow.

"Damn...what's going on? My head feels like-", Lance looked up at everyone, and then looked toward the cockpit. "Oh God, I'm sorry guys. I got into an early fit again, please don't kill me..."

"Don't worry. No one's going to touch you. Another fight would cause us to end up where we were.", reassured Knight, who had used Apparition's katana to cut himself free from Frank.

"Uh...why was my head stuck to yours?"

"Ah, ha...well, look out the window! We're finally here!"

The white structures finally came into view, as the shuttle closed in on it. Ominously, with each meter taken by the vehicle, the seemingly all-powerful, always shining sun started to gradually lose its grace, growing darker, and darker, as if the squad's very presence dampened anything that was shimmering in glory. But, in that very environment, tiny, insignificant little snowflakes started pelting the team's windows, trying to claw their way in to the occupants within. Yet, the structures that impeded them were unscathed, and their enemies were only left with an inquiry about their existence.

"Uh, Knight, should we be out here when it's snowing?", Bob asked worriedly. "I keep hearing stories about Noveria's 'legendary' snowstorms."

"Don't worry, those blizzards are rare, and the place only has a small snow-shower. Besides, there's only four enemy soldiers reported on the base. It'll only take, at most, ten minutes to finish them off."'

"Alright guys,", said George from his seat. "get your stuff together and move out!" The shuttle dove in across the landing pad at the far end of the facility, and dropped the Atlas on top of a fighter that was placed in the center. The entire area felt its presence, from its earthshaking landing, to its effect on everything it touched. The shuttle overhead suddenly turned around, and went closer to the steel ground.

"Lets go, go go!", Bob yelled, as he remembered his old days as a commando. The team jumped off the shuttle as it hovered over the ground. From their position, they overheard a large shout that signaled the awareness of an enemy.

"Troopers!", said the voice. The team immediately reacted by moving toward the noise. As they ran, they noticed that the path split into two separate directions; one was going to the left, and the other on the right went up to higher ground, but eventually led itself indoors.

"Everyone, to the right!", screamed Knight. As the squad was heading up, they were greeted by a handful of gunfire, and explosives being launched at them from the end of a small, sloped highway. Ross staggered as a sniper shot hit his shield, causing him to knock into Frank, who was busy setting up a turret. A Krogan in the distance was seen to have been charging toward them, but was forced back because of the combined fire from the team. Louis fired several rockets from his Atlas inside the room, thus, silencing the gunfire for a few moments.

"Uh, gentlemen? I may be able to clear the room out if my path's unobstructed.", Louis said from the safety of his mech. Immediately, the entire squad cleared out of the way, as the Atlas moved closer, and closer to the hostile occupants, while firing volleys of rockets.

"Apparition, stay close behind Louis, stab em when he gets close to them!", said Knight as he took cover behind a crate.

Bob watched in amazement as the Atlas unleashed hell on the enclosed area. Although in his old days he'd seen Cerberus use husks and rachni at enemy forces, the thought that drove him near insane, was that the Atlas was a regular ground unit, being thrown around everywhere in the galaxy, wrecking havoc at anything in front of it. Yet, a single, insignificant trooper drove it, commanding it, and making it submit to every single mandate that Cerberus had in store for it. Cerberus...was this omnipotent, and ruthless force that he was now acquainted with, but he didn't know if he liked it or not. Then, at that very moment, as he leaned against the crate he was taking cover with, and slid down it to sit down, he finally started thinking...

However, when he looked up at the Atlas again, he saw that it paused its movement. He also noticed a flickering, orange static that covered its entire shape. Apparition lowered her Katana, and looked at the giant mech.

"Hey, Louis, everything alright in there? We, really shouldn't be standing here like this...", she asked. Immediately, the Atlas turned in a quick "180", and revealed Louis frantically mashing buttons on his control console.

"Bloody hell! I'm being hacked, I can't control anything!" Before Apparition could react, the Atlas grabbed her midsection, and crushed it, dropping her lifeless form to the ground. The sickening sound of the crunch echoed in the area, and was heard clearly in the ears of the squad.

"Holy shit, run!", Lance said in horror. The entire team immediately abandoned their positions, and took cover behind the remnants of the destroyed fighter. Within the safety of the wreck, they unleashed a hailstorm of gunfire upon the Atlas, causing it to stagger back.

"Guys, guys! Stop shooting, I'm still in here!", yelled Louis, as he slowly started to regain control of the Atlas. "I think the controls are back online!" In the midst of the chaos, Bob caught sight of a Salarian in a dark brown suit flanking the Atlas to the right.

"Hey, Louis, there's a guy to your left!", Bob shouted over the silence of gunfire. But, before Louis could react, the Salarian pulled out a small, white gun, with an abnormal, glowing barrel. The small rocket that had been shot out, struck the Atlas slightly under its glass dome.

At that moment, everything went to hell.

The Atlas literally split in two, with the dividing point under its head. The seemingly impenetrable dome immediately shattered, causing Louis to be thrown out of his seat, and into the air, alongside a flock of golden glass pieces, that had suddenly gained the ability to become airborne. He fell with his hundreds of companions, with each of their bodies sprinkling the ground, and his own body crushing itself by the impact. As he struggled to get up, the Atlas's head fell on top of him, thus, horribly killing him.

"Holy shit!"

"What the hell?"

"Damn!"

"Oh my God!"

"Oh fuck!"

Before the Salarian was able to move closer to the team, Frank's turret pinned him down behind cover, forcing his teammates to move in closer to him. Even then, his teammates found themselves in a similar predicament, as the squad's concentrated fire rendered them unable to move farther inward. As the shots continued to be fired thrown back and forth, Bob found that the wind started to pick up speed, and snow started to cover up his visor.

"Knight, we might need to go indoors, the weather's picking up!"

"We need to take out the Salarian first, if we move in to attack the enemy squad, that guy'll cause a lot of trouble. No telling how many of those damn rocket launchers he has left."

"Wouldn't the turret keep him down?"

"It's only covering the left path to us. If he moved to the right, he would get caught in the line of fire that we're using on his squad. If we move in, he'll be able to get us from that position." He turned to Ross. "Ross, since the enemy's pinned down, I need you to kick that Salarian's ass."

"You got it." Ross vaulted over his cover, and slowly moved forward behind his massive shield. Suddenly, a huge shape, marked by an abundance of a glowing, blue aura charged toward the turret, and knocked it down. As the huge shape took a specific shape, it revealed a Krogan, literally exerting biotic energy out of its body.

"Krogan Vanguard! Shoot it down!" Unfortunately, the Krogan picked up the turret, which had suddenly glowed orange, and aimed it at the squad.

"What the fu-" Lance said, before his torso was struck by a giant round from the malfunctioning turret. The Krogan held the machine at his hip, and continued to shake his body from left to right, madly.

Cowering behind cover, Bob asked: "Lance, you okay?"

"Y-yeah. Damn thing knocked the wind out of me, but, I'm fine. The armor really helps a lo-"

"Turret, please don't do this to us! I know you're in there somewhere, fight their hacking!", Frank yelled frantically.

"Frank, shut up! It's a turret, it can't talk to you!"

"YES, it can Lance! Watch, it knows I'm its father, he won't shoot at me anymore!" Frank started to stand up, out of his cover.

"Wait a second Frank, don't do this...I'm serious!" But it was too late, Frank stood up, arms outstretched toward the mad Krogan with his "child".

"Come on, stop shooting, and give me a-" Frank repeatedly felt the multiple impacts of bullets colliding with his unprotected suit. He stumbled backwards, and attempted to pull out his pistol. Before his hand met his holster, his golden vision from the inside of the visor, suddenly saw a hole in the middle of it all, with cracks protruding from the new center.

"Frank!"

He fell backward, against the cover that Bob was hiding behind. Before his body slid down it, Bob pulled him in to safety.

"Damn it Knight, we might need to fall back, we're taking too many casualties!" Bob said, as he laid Frank down. Unusually enough, Knight stared at Bob for a while, in the middle of the chaos.

"What are...Bob, do you even know about-" Knight paused. "Shit, Ross is still out there!" He caught sight of Ross, trying to wrestle away his shield from the Salarian who had knocked him down. During this, the turret regained control, but was smashed against a crate, and thrown by the Krogan. As he made a reckless charge toward the team, Sarah shot his knee to make him stumble into an onslaught of the squad's combined fire. The sickening sound of gunshots impacting his flesh resonated around the area, followed by the Krogan's voice.

"I'm down!" Rather humorously, he fell down suddenly, and grew deathly still on the ground. Sarah, now free from the encumbering state of gunfire, shot the Salarian off of Ross. The freed Guardian proceeded to bash his shield against the wounded Salarian, who eventually, went down.

"Now's our chance! Charg-" The small storm, abruptly picked up an intense speed, which had thrown off Sarah's aim, and caused her shot to hit Lance, who was about to be attracted to her.

"Ow, damn! Ah, you never miss, what the hell!"

"Gaoo feyah sef, bleeezba!", she said in her usual electronic, but angry tone.

"Where did this..." Knight gestured toward the blizzard that was about to afflict them. "...come from?"

Bob was about to respond furiously, before his surroundings suddenly became unrecognizable. "I can't see a damn thing! We're blind out here!"

Knight readied his Mattock. "If we can't see them, they can't see us!" As if on cue, a small, red object was launched from the enemy squad's location, and at their cover. "Grenade!" The entire squad dove down, until they realized that it hadn't detonated in two seconds.

"Knight, are you fucking with us?", Ross said, as he finally caught up with the rest of the team.

"No, I saw a grenade, I-" Suddenly, a luminous red covered their bodies, causing them to stand out, in the dense storm.

"Wow Knight, you're getting interrupted a lot. I think the enemy's doing this on purpose..."

"Shut up and get down Lance, they could see us through the fo-" The device exploded, bathing the area in a huge, red smoke, that was gently complemented by the huge wind, which in turn, caused the redness to spread out, and abandon the area, giving off the impression that it never existed.

Bob, fortunately enough, had been relatively unharmed from the blast (Considering the amount of cover he was hiding behind), but still shaken at the pure destruction that it caused. In a dazed state, he stumbled around as the cruel storm blinded him, and in a sense, deafened him, with only its roar as an exception. As he walked around, with the sounds of his footsteps being outmatched by the wind, he found the bodies of Knight, and Lance, who were unfortunately close to the mine. He leaned against every available piece of rubble that he could find, and continued to walk blindly. Unexpectedly, he accidentally stepped on the Krogan who had been "downed" by their fire.

"Hey!_ xxShotgunninjamasterxx _just got executed! There's still a guy in here!" What followed was a blind, but even spread of enemy fire, that came uncomfortably close to hitting him. He mistakenly shot back, out of instinct, but immediately regretted it.

"Found you!" A quarian emerged inside his vision, only to punch Bob in the face with a fist that had been cascaded by fire. He was about to fire his shotgun, when a sniper round suddenly struck him in the arm. "My suit!" The infiltrator ran off, and shouted out orders that had been too distant to hear. Bob turned around, and saw Sarah, reloading her gun. Before he could wave hi, the cursed gunfire returned, causing Bob to hide behind a small, waist high piece of rubble that was next to him. Sarah, with her shields deflecting the shots leaped behind another piece of cover.

"That's enough! This wave is lasting a little too long, charge in and murder them!", yelled a Turian in the distance.

"Feyaah-hahaah!" Sarah readied her Widow.

"Damn...this is gonna suck...", Bob said as he grabbed his stun baton in his right hand, and his Hornet SMG in his left.

"Salarian, why didn't you tell me that you had an extra rocket launcher?"

"I thought that we were gonna overpower the enemy squad, I didn't realize that it would get this tough already."

"That Krogan's dead now!"

"He'll come back to life after we kill these guys, come on..."

"Not the point."

"He was a vanguard! You don't really think that he didn't have it coming to him, did you? Aren't you tired of him throwing off your aim with those biotic charges?"

"Keelah guys, we're on a mission right now..."

Bob clenched his fist, as a figure in the fog approached his cover. He was about to make a move, until Sarah shot the soon-to-be assailant with her sniper rifle. A Turian charged in toward her, but was stopped by Bob leaping on to him, and repeatedly hitting him in the head with his baton. Before Sarah could take another shot at her wounded opponent, an invisible figure suddenly appeared in front of her, and smashed her sniper, out of her hands. As the two traded punches, Bob was holding on to dear life on the Turian, wishing that he had a knife instead of an electric...stick.

"Someone get this guy off of me!", the Turian yelled frantically. Bob was about to finish him off with a shot to the head, but was suddenly thrown off by a Quarian's combat drone, which had smashed into him. He got up, but stumbled backward by another electric shot from the vengeful machine. Sarah managed to knock the Salarian away, but was shot in the head by the freed Turian.

"No!" Bob immediately got up, and charged at the Turian again, but was stopped by a gunshot to the leg, which easily penetrated his plastic armor. "Ah...damn!" He tried to get up again, but was stopped by a pistol aimed at his head.

"Keelah se'lai motherfucker!"

The Quarian fired his pistol.

* * *

**_So guys, that was my first, full action chapter, but honestly, I'm not too confident. I'm not the best at writing action sequences, so, review, if I need to improve in certain aspects of my writing skills. Believe me, I won't complain if you review harshly...but...constructive criticism please..._**


	5. Never-ending Vendetta

"Oh, hey guys, Bob's waking up!"

Bob woke up with a huge, uncontrolled intake of air, as if he was breathing for the very first time. He held his arms over his head, then chest, then legs to make sure he wasn't in the same state as he was, when he...departed. But all he could remember was that fatal gunshot to the head, the one to act as a cruel ending to his unfinished story, initiated by a cruel writer who had been too preoccupied with the necessities of life in his own, omniscient, dimensional state.

Yet...the Assault Trooper was here, basking in the glow of the lamp above him, with the organic "ghosts" of his teammates surrounding him. And he was nude.

"You know...considering the size of..." Apparition said, while leaning against a cabinet with the slightest signs of a grin. "...that...he probably doesn't need the cup..."

"Hey, I heard that!"

"She's right you know..."

"Stop staring!" Bob dragged Ross' shield away from him, and used it to hide behind, while staring through the somewhat narrow slot near the top. "What the hell is going on?"

"What are you talking about?", Knight questioned in return.

"You know what! I saw all of you die back at Noveria!"

Knight sighed. "Look, Bob...I'm sorry that we didn't protect you, but we fought an enemy that we never dealt with before. We were unprepared, but, Cerberus is working on counter-measures to fight the N-"

"That's not what I'm asking! Why aren't you all dead?"

Lance chuckled inside the safety of his armor. "Well, that's not very nice."

Knight pushed the Dragoon away, and said: "You don't know...do you? Damn it, why didn't anybody teach you that in 'Assault Trooper' School?" Bob, for a few moments looked up in deep contemplation of the past, searching for the remnants of a thought process that included resurrection, but only came up with memories of being taught to use teammates as human-shields.

"Um...I don't remember anything about what you're trying to tell me."

"Damn it, no Assault Trooper in Cerberus seems to know..." Knight looked back at the rest of the team. "No wonder the first guy we got, left before our first mission!"

"What are you trying to tell me?"

Knight gestured for everyone except Bob and him to leave the room. "Don't worry Bob, they know about it. I just don't like an audience; it's going to be a long talk. But first, feel the place where you got shot."

Bob felt his forehead, expecting a scar from the execution, but found nothing. "What the-"

"Yeah...you can't die Bob. None of us can. But, it isn't merely resurrection, you get a whole new body, replicated after your physical attributes."

"A new _body_?"

"Yes...about that. See, remember that time you got scanned before you ended your training?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, the 'Lazarus Project', gave birth to a whole new generation of projects, devoted to bringing people back. We could do it perfectly now, but well, the brain was-is extremely expensive to reconstruct. But, we could recreate corpses pretty well, so, we started scanning random people, and stuffing their corpses around the place, because we had nothing to do with them." A look on Bob's horrified face made Knight continue to less, 'sensitive' subjects. However, when Cerberus started looking for ways to make brains cheaper to create, using the new Collector technology they salvaged from the base, they came across a scientific breakthrough, which allowed them to transport people's minds out of their body, and into another, after death."

"Kinda like...harnessing a soul, and moving it to the afterlife?"

"No, a soul, according to whatever Abrahamic religions you believe in, is your spiritual identity, like a body in the body, your own little identity. Your consciousness is what I'm talking about, which is what enables you to perceptive everything around you, and, do stuff. On your original body, during that scan, we made your body an 'expensive-but-not-as-expensive-as-Shepard' upgrade, which allowed your brain to be...relatively invincible."

"I still died from a shot to the head."

"Not physically, but the guys in the labcoats said your consciousness stays alive forever, but again, upgraded."

"So how does that help?"

"Well, first of all, we know that the Reapers' indoctrination broke the Collectors, causing their own minds to be, well, non-existent. We made brains, just, some that were really easy to crack with Reaper indoctrination. We gave your subconsciousness Harbinger's powers to 'assume control' of people."

"Harbinger?"

"Yeah, some Reaper who had been overseeing the Collectors. But, the technology of a destroyed Reaper allowed us to possess people, but not as powerfully. But, what I'm trying to tell you is that, you're controlling the body you're in right now, from your far-away brain."

"I didn't enable it."

"Well, we may have forcibly programmed the mandate to control another mind, every time you die."

"Wait, so what if the original brain rots away? You won't have that long to control people!"

"That's why we freeze the brain in a safe environment, to keep it 'alive'."

"You picked up my brain from Noveria?"

Knight paused, worried that the naive Assault Trooper would run, screaming, after what he was going to say next. "No. You see, your firs- second death didn't happen during that N7 Special Forces mission. It happened the night after the scan."

"The night after-wait, I DIED?"

"Yeah...we had to slit your throat while you were sleeping...But enough about that! Let me continue. So, we let you take control of the bodies we made after you, and you got your life back...you just have no soul."

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

"Listen, I know this is bad, and the 'Organization for Sentient Rights' back on the Citadel would be shitting themselves if they knew about this, but, this benefits everyone. You see, back when you hadn't died your first time, back when Cerberus was small, we had such a small amount of people working in the military cells. With the people allowing themselves to resurrect their mind, and body, we don't have to worry about casualties anymore. We could lose everyone in a battle, and it won't affect us at all! Troops no longer have to fear death!"

"I still do! Dying hurts!"

"But it still isn't the end. If you have anybody you care about in your unit, you won't have to feel loss! Besides, people will still have their 'self-preservation instincts'. But dying just won't affect anything anymore!"

"I didn't sign up for this shit!"

"You were feeding Alliance soldiers to thresher maws!"

"You killed _me_!"

"So did Commander Shepard dumbass!" Knight, who had already loss his calm state of mind, was already standing up, while keeping his hand on his gun. As soon as he saw his finger reaching for the trigger, he apologized, and lowered his voice. How about this, you help us kill Commander Shepard, and once he's dead, either from our hands or yours, you get to retire, without a death squad being sent to tie-up loose ends. You'll be the only soldier in Cerberus to retire without a fight, and all you have to do, is to wait until the guy who messed you up bad, is dead."

Bob, still nude behind the shield didn't move an inch, but didn't speak either.

"Come on Bob, the guy mutilated you...after you died, and then let his Krogan eat part of your remains, only to shit it out on your severed head."

"He did what?"

"Do you really want that to happen to anyone else?" Bob's moral guardian had been lenient on him for most of his career in Cerberus, even as he continued to help assassinate high-ranking officials, or feed people to giant worms. However, only this time, only Commander Shepard managed to wake it up, but it wasn't merely a matter of right, and wrong, as that seemed to be strangely irrelevant to him for all his life. This moralistic ruler over him seemed to be awaken by what seemed to be a moral dilemma, but wasn't. The conflict of cruelty cloaked the other emotion that threatened him: fear. That fear of an inhuman being, as Commander Shepard was, and his extreme ability to affect the human body negatively, yet Bob had himself convinced that he despised Shepard because of his evil deeds, instead of the self-preservation that was needed by him.

Bob, still crouched behind his shield asked: "What's the next mission?"

"Well, the good news is that it's a bit easier than last time. No N7 Special Forces. We're going to help take over a base on Mars, in order to capture some artifact that the Illusive Man. Bad news is, that we might need to take on Commander Shepard over there, since we've received word that he had left Earth recently."

"If Shepard's there, that means that I could end it all tomorrow."

"So, I take it that you want to stay with us?

"Until Shepard's dead."

"Alright...fine."

"I also have one more request."

"Ask away."

As Bob was opening his mouth to speak, Knight visibly, but unintentionally showed signs of wincing at the sight of his mouth moving. "I would really appreciate some clothes right now..."

* * *

_**Sorry about the shorter chapter guys. I'll try to make the next one longer, but, I hope you guys are still enjoying this story.**_

_**Also, I decided to make the protagonist deaths canon, because, it's impossible to imagine an Assault Trooper in the campaign actually surviving a battle with you! However, I took a huge risk in doing this, because I had to explain it, using science, religion, and Mass Effect "Space Magic", which took some research. But, since I'm still inexperienced about writing about this kind of stuff, I might have messed up the details in my explanation, so, feel free to correct me in the review's page.**_

_**Adding on to this, I know it might not make sense to have Cerberus attack the facility on Mars after fighting the N7 Special Forces, which is understandable. I'm kinda planning this as I go (With a few major plot points being foreshadowed during the story), and this just crossed my mind. So...lets say that the Reaper threat was already seen by the Alliance, and mercenaries from around the galaxy joined the program in its earlier stages. Yeah.**_


	6. Chaos on Mars

From an inexperienced and rash eye, the constant rumbling of the surface is being caused by the small but suspicious facility near by, filled to the brim with the constant presence of machinery, and experimentation. But, if the eye is functional, calm, and alert, it would look to the very right of its master's vision, and find a distant behemoth of sand, slowly crawling its way toward the facility, in the literal shape of a tsunami. Yet, even that force of alien nature didn't even seem to be accurate, with the apparent malicious atmosphere looming around the base. Maybe the experienced eye focused too much on logic, and the tense scene affected the emotions of the inexperienced, and drew them inside the conclusion of a artificial surface rumbling. Maybe the inexperienced was correct, and the seasoned veteran of his, or her perceptional values was wrong. However, the experienced may find one, last, hold onto the grip of being correct, and say something along the lines of this:

"Maybe the base wasn't evil at all."

Indeed, but the facility managed to leave an impression on everyone. Nevertheless, the distant sandstorm threatened to engulf the entire area, in one fierce strike. Disturbingly, the sandstorm was a feature of the natural world itself, and if the second prediction of the experienced eyes was correct, with the facility being of good nature: it seems that the everything around it was trying to end it; virtue was about to be killed.

And as this took place, the Reapers loomed over the galaxy, acting as immoral sandstorms upon the galaxy.

Unfortunately, Bob, and the rest of Cerberus is in the middle of it all.

_Time: 10 minutes into the mission..._

"Alright team, I've got some bad news, and some good news. The bad news is that a bunch of squads will be joining us in the assault of the Mars Archives, so, it'll be just one giant melting pot of shooters in the area. Our job is to take the area quick, so, we'll rush the facility with the entire force, instead of using tactical squads. So, you guys will be running around the area...to places you need to be. You may, or may not see each other, but don't spend time looking for each other. We'll meet together at the end of the mission, once we've got what we needed from the facility.", Knight said as he stared at his emotionally unstable crew.

"That's the bad news?" Lance pointed out.

"Well, we got something better. The good news is that 'Dr. Eva Core', our mole, is currently sabotaging the base, so defenses, and auto-turrets won't bother you much."

"And Commander Shepard?" asked Bob, as he prepared his Hornet SMG.

"Coming," Knight heard a short giggle in the shuttle, but found it hard to pinpoint, due to each squad member's anonymity behind their helmets. "...soon. So, that's why we have to wipe out the defenders fast, and fortify before he gets here." He banged on the door to the shuttle cockpit. "Hey George, how far are we from the base?"

"Look out the window, we've just about arrived." Bob looked outside, and saw the already war-torn base, being ravaged by an entire horde of shuttles, which, to nobody's dismay, dropped a handful of troopers, for each airborne participant.

"Looks like Hell left us, and went for the Alliance..." said Ross, with a mix of hope, and sadness in his voice.

* * *

_20 minutes into the mission..._

Bob was ordered to stay with a huge mass of Assault Troopers, in order to provide cover-fire for the Centurions charging into the front gate. A hailstorm of fire relentlessly hit his group of plastic-wearing troopers, causing Bob to leap into cover, and fire frantically from his position.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!", he continuously said, as he lobbed grenades behind the safety of his waist-high, bullet proof wooden crate. The sight of another Assault Trooper suffocating from a breach in his oxygen mask only encouraged his behavior. The red dust from the ground quickly spread with the impact of each bullet, turning the battlefield into a giant smokescreen, which created panic between the two groups of soldiers. The Alliance soldiers fired blindly into the smoke, while the horribly trained Assault Troopers continually tossed grenades around in random directions, which did nothing to avoid casualties. Eventually, the Centurions emerged from the wall of dust, and overpowered the pinned defenders. A long minute later, the troopers, including Bob, stumbled out of the smoke, with a huge sense of accomplishment in each of their weak, but scarred bodies.

"I thought this was going to be an easy fight!" yelled one of the wounded troopers.

"For everyone else, it might be. But for us troopers...not a chance." said an even weaker Bob.

* * *

_20 minutes into the mission..._

Fortunately for everyone in the galaxy, the resources for an entire army of Atlas' was impossible to obtain. Unfortunately for the Alliance soldiers , only one was needed to breach into the back entrance of the base, in which most of their defense was devoted toward fighting the huge waves of Assault Troopers at the front.

"I may be a gentleman, but I, am not a GENTLE MAN!" exclaimed a mad Louis, with an Atlas that was as invincible as his suit was neat.

And his suit was very neat.

The sight of the huge machine, silhouetted by the rising sun, like a giant shadow rising from the ground, caused many of the troops to run away screaming, while reminding themselves that they were just reinforcing the front gate, and not fleeing for their lives. Once the man's blood-lust ended with regret, he said: "My apologies, your quick, and unusually easy deaths by my Atlas make me forget that you're actual hosts, and I'm being a rude guest. But since you're yelling too, I mine as well educate you all in proper etiquette." A fast land vehicle was stopped by the power claws of the mech, and thrown into the entrance, causing a huge hole in the area, which, due to the lack of air, sucked every single thing out onto the forbidden planet.

"Oh, dear. I left the door open.", he said in a mocking tone.

* * *

_20 minutes into the mission..._

"SPARRRRTANS!" roared the commander, as he faced the army of battle-ready Guardians. "Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... For tonight, we dine in hell!"

A fellow shield wielder faced Ross, and asked, "What the hell is that guy talking about?"

"I have no idea, but it's probably going to be very bad." As if on que, the door in front of their small army opened up, revealing a sea of blue armored Alliance soldiers, charging at them, with their rifles being held like swords and spears. "What the fuck?", said a bewildered Ross.

Miraculously, the Guardian army created a huge phalanx, with each soldier leaning against their friend's shield behind them. The men in the first row began firing at the marauding troops, creating a floating stream of red across the blue ocean. The countless bodies that followed, caused the reckless soldiers to stumble and trip into the line of fire, adding on more unintentional barricades to the mess. The rumbling of the ground was soon forgotten, as the combined roars of all the men quickly drowned it out.

Finally, the huge, purely organic mass of people collided with the shields, in the hope of overpowering the formation, and trampling them with their enormous numbers. But, before the Alliance soldiers succeeded, the formation pushed forward with its wall of shields, causing the short struggle to end, with the demoralization of the blue soldiers, and the vengeful feeling of the Guardians.

"Rip them apart!", screeched the Commander. Immediately, the formation broke apart, but continued to wreck havoc on the enemy ranks, like a giant building in an earthquake, tearing itself apart, and falling on the inhabitants near it. Unsurprisingly, that image, and the scene at the moment, looked very similar to each other. As Ross fought in the chaos, he caught sight of the commander, still wearing his helmet, but shirtless, with a red cape that had been wrapped around his body.

* * *

_28 minutes into the mission..._

Meanwhile, the constant barrage of sound rang throughout the area. Sarah found herself in a location where, amazingly enough, noise had been absent, with only a hint of its presence in the distance. She, and four other Nemesis's ascended the challenging terrain of the alien planet, while quickly avoiding obstacles that could easily mean their death, even before their actual battle began. As they climbed, the rugged and sharp rocks near the bottom drew a constant reminder of how easily it could all end. Fortunately, the five managed to succeed in the test of their athletic abilities, and found themselves staring at the battle below, with the soldiers in their turrets tearing the Cerberus troops apart. One of the Nemesis' perched her rifle on top of a low rock, and began to fire.

A shot rang out.

The Nemesis' head exploded in a huge fountain of gore, to the unwanted surprise of the snipers. Sarah, as soon as she saw what was happening, took cover behind a large rock, while narrowly dodging the sniper rounds that were coming at her.

"Snparrrrs!", she yelled, as she quickly fired another round, and leaned back against her safe cover. She looked to the left, and saw another Nemesis being blown back by a shot. Immediately afterward, the wounded sniper lit up on fire, but was put to rest by a following shot. "Shshtt.", she said, before leaning over to get a peak at the location of the shooters.

* * *

_30 minutes into the mission..._

As the Guardians routed the last of the blue opposition, the Combat Engineers began setting up turrets in the blood soaked trail. Frank sat against a piece of rubble, as he pulled out the steel box that was attached to his back, and began using his omni-tool to "unpack" it. As the turret began emerging from it, he patted it on the head, and pulled out a sandwich, which, due to his clumsiness, fell onto the blood, and dust covered ground.

"Damn it." Frank said, as he hopelessly stared at the piece of food on the ground, as if he could have eaten it on the planet.

"Fucking useless turret..." another Combat Engineer muttered, while kicking it as it failed to materialize. Frank gasped in horror, and quickly stood up, fists clenched. The Combat Engineer heard the sound of loud footsteps coming closer to him, which succeeded in gaining his attention. When he looked, he didn't see the shape of a fellow trooper, slowly walking toward him, to help his turret out, but he saw a sprinting madman dressed in an Engineer's armor. Before he could move out of the way, the shape leaped into the air, covering his field of vision, with his form threatening to crush him.

"You son of a bitch!" screamed Frank.

"What the hell, get off!" the Engineer ordered, before being punched in the jaw by a fierce right hook. The engineers near-by ran toward the two, attempting to push them both away from each other.

"Get away from me, this man is committing child abuse! Don't stop me from killing this sick freak!"

"Get him off of me, this guy is crazy!" pleaded the assaulted man.

* * *

_45 minutes into the mission..._

Lance threw another trooper to the left with his biotic whip, causing a stream of havoc within the area filled with technology. With each swing of his huge weapons, more equipment was struck, causing a surge of electricity to bounce across the room, resulting in multiple combatants being hit, and his figure being visibly turned into a mass of lightning, that continued to wreck havoc upon everyone who dared to go close to him. He casually walked toward a group of pinned soldier, before they were suddenly struck by a volley of gunfire.

"Come on, you stole my kills!", he yelled, somewhat angrily at the Centurion who fired at them.

"Having fun?" said Knight, from behind his identical identity to his fellow comrades.

"Oh, hey man! I'm starting to miss everyone now, it's just really boring without you guys!"

"I thought you were the one, who was glad when we heard the news about the separation." Knight said, as he crossed his arms, with a smug look behind his helmet.

"I changed my mind, alright!", he said, before he shot another enemy marine trying to sneak up on the two of them.

"Alright, alright, don't worry about it. This mission won't last long, so, you'll see us soon." Knight pointed in the direction in front of them. "Come on, we need to get to the archives."

"What's the situation there?"

"Nothing, just hope you like train rides."

* * *

_45 minutes into the mission..._

The second wave of Assault Troopers was quickly mowed down by the turret, which had apparently been unaffected by Dr. Eva.

"Damn it, I thought the defenses were cleared out!" He looked at a Phantom that just entered the area. "Hey, you! Can you help us get those guys, controlling the turret?"

Without saying a word, Apparition turned invisible, and walked into the corridor where the turret was facing. Every trooper there held their breath, as the distant sound of footsteps dissipated in the distance, while the turret searched for a new target, totally ignorant of the assassin. Within a minute, the screams of Alliance soldiers were heard, and the turret suddenly became motionless. The troopers charged into the control room, but stopped short of the decapitated bodies littering the area.

"'Can I, help you get those guys, controlling the turret'?" Apparition said, imitating the soldier who needed aid. "Answering your question, yes, I can. I take it that you can do the rest from here?"

Hearing the screams of Assault Troopers from another hallway not too far from them, the Assault Trooper said, "...How about you stay with us, for a little while longer...".

* * *

_50 minutes into the mission..._

Bob climbed the ladder, out onto the outside of the facility again, relieved that what he thought was the worst of the battle, was over. But as he finally paid attention to the situation, he caught sight of a battlefield. Assault Troopers charging toward the onslaught were quickly silenced by the shuttles above, who carried more men to join in the action. With the convenient amount of cover numbering the area, troops often engaged each other in savage close-quarters combat, using their rifles to do what bayonets were supposed to do, with little success. Every so often, a shuttle would be shot down by a stray rocket, and crash into the chaos below, spreading out the bodies in a cluster rocket of mass-hysteria.

"This sucks..." he muttered as he charged into the action.

* * *

_55 minutes into the mission..._

The Guardians pushed the last remaining Alliance troops in the area, and caused them to be backed against the end of a large hallway, as they fought for their lives. From their point of view, they saw a giant wall in front of them, closing in to crush them into dust. But it didn't end like that, as the wall stopped, and fired multiple shots to end it all.

Ross, from the back of the phalanx sighed, before holstering his gun.

"Alright Guardians, lets move on to the next sec-" Ross caught sight of a small, red cylinder, flying through the air, like a phoenix, eager to be renewed in a shower of fire, and reborn from those ashes.

The Commander of the Guardians burst into flames, along with a few near him, and danced madly to escape their doom. Ross looked in the opposite direction, and saw three figures charging at them, while at the same time, spraying gunfire without remorse. The remaining Guardians took a stand, and sprinted toward them, from behind the safety of their shields. Ross felt rounds bounce against his portable shelter, but found that people behind him, weren't as lucky. Countless incendiary grenades flew over him, taking the lives of the ones it hit, and caused the ones, behind those behind, to stumble, and fall over the newly added corpses. Eventually, his miraculous spree of living ended, when he, and many others were lifted from the ground, after being viciously ripped from their shields. The sounds of gunfire were heard from behind him, but unfortunately, he faced a huge black hole instead, cutting off any hope of retaliation, or...escape.

* * *

_60 minutes into the mission..._

Bob quickly gunned down the last enemy trooper, and pushed him over the edge of the station, before he finally saw the cable-cars leave the tram station at the opposite side of the base, with a firefight in between the two vehicles. He pulled out his omni-tool's communicator:

"Hey, Knight, what's going on over there?" Bob asked, as he leaned next to a blown out wall, facing a view of the hostile Martian landscape.

"Bob, is that you? Get off the comm, you've got your own job to deal with!"

"Everything's good up here, we managed to overpower the squads on the rooftops, so, we're all waiting for you guys to get into the archive." Bob said, before he finally noticed the distant sounds of gunfire over the radio. "You okay out there?"

"Can't talk right now, shooting up stuff right now-shit! Gotta go!" The communicator went silent. Bob groaned, before getting up, and walking around casually.

"Time to play the waiting game..." he muttered under his breath.

"Sonofawhorshitfuckingfuuuuck! screamed another Assault Trooper that flew over his head, who had eclipsed the sun above him, for a few moments.

"What the fuck!" he yelled, with a strange mix of terror, and astonishment. He turned around and saw two figures facing him, before they were interrupted by a short sprinkle of fire on their position. He ran to take cover, but stopped short of his walk, in order to make a double-take. He saw the pink armor, nearly white in the midst of the looming sun, with the N7 armor plate unintentionally exaggerating its presence toward a person who had been all too familiar with it. "Oh, shit!" Somehow, Shepard heard his voice, and turned to him.

"There's another one!" The N7 soldier began shooting in Bob's direction. The Assault Trooper screamed, and sprinted to hide behind a conveniently placed, waist-high cover. He vaulted over it rather unskillfully, as his back hit the ground, hard. With his arm, he pushed himself up to catch the sight of the mad Commander, who had ditched his weapon a few meters back, and charged at him with a omni-blade...that was shaped like a double-edged sword...with its blades narrowly missing his head in each quick movement.

"Fuck!" The frightened trooper tossed a grenade at the marauding soldier. To his surprise, the grenade directly impacted his body, blowing him back onto the ground, with a sudden flash of blue, and grey, a synthetic bond of smoke and shield displacement to create an striking image of Commander Shepard, finally, for the first time, getting injured in combat.

"Oh shit..." He turned to check if anyone else had seen it. "Did I...holy shit! I did it!" he exclaimed. "Take that you little bitch!"

"Ugh...", the body on the ground said, before slowly getting up.

"Oh fuck!" Bob rose his weapon again, but found himself getting blown back by a rifle shot to the shoulder, which, combined with the lack of protection on his armor, threw him back a few feet. He looked up, expecting himself to get up, but instead hopelessly stared down the barrel of a gun...again. Before the attacker pulled the trigger, she was pushed away by a ruined, pink arm.

"Not this time Williams, I'll deal with this one personally." said the Commander with a noticeable feeling of rage, even from behind his helmet.

"With all due respect, sir, I think we're wasting time here, we need to get going, look," The blue armored soldier pointed toward the moving trams, still exchanging shots. "Those Alliance soldiers need our help."

"Really? Ahem:" The mad soldier cleared his throat. "Why is it whenever someone says 'with all due respect', they really mean 'kiss my ass'?" he said in a higher, and whining voice. "Now for you..." he said, facing Bob. "You did _this_," he gestured toward himself. Bob saw the numerous cracks in his armor, the faded pink, and a clear, visible smoke trail protruding from his armor. "Do you know, how much _this_ costs?" He reached out toward Bob's helmet. At that moment, Bob realized he was going to remove his helmet, right out here, in the harsh Martian environment, completely void of oxygen.

"Waitwaitwait, don't do this, I need that to breathe!"

* * *

_60 minutes into the mission..._

The sound of the tram moving relieved Knight, as he expected the vehicle to be sabotaged, and cause itself to plunge down into the crevasse below. The sounds of gunfire caused the ten men to take cover in the car. With the speed of the two cars, both sides found it difficult to fire, and caused the battle to result in a chaotic clash of blind-fire, from left to right. As Knight was shooting, his omni-tool suddenly flashed, revealing the voice of Bob speaking over it.

"Hey Knight, what's going on over there?" Bob asked.

"Bob is that you? Get off the comm, you've got your own job to deal with!"

"Everything's good up here, we managed to overpower the squads on the rooftops, so, we're all waiting for you guys to get into the archive. You okay out there?"

Knight shook his head. "Can't talk right now, shooting up stuff right now-" A grenade rolled near the busy Centurion. "Shit! Gotta go!" he yelled, before diving away from the explosive. The vicious object exploded, launching two unlucky Assault Troopers off of the train, and briefly knocking Lance down to the ground. "Lance!"

"I'm...fine, damn...that hurt!" he struggled to say, as he crawled away from the impact zone. "Armor's awesome...to have, fuck..."

"It looks like you're having a tough time..." a female voice mocked inside the car. The figure suddenly emerged between the two, and leaned against the wall behind her almost casually.

"Apparition, what the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be at your own position!"

"Well, turns out I'm the only Phantom here, so, I'm just causing problems with the defenses that are still intact. It looks like I'm staying with you guys." She looked around the car. "So where's Dr. Eva?"

"Still causing trouble near the archive. A bunch of Alliance soldiers heard about the trouble, and are en route, to intercept her." The Centurion gestured towards the firing Alliance soldiers. "Those, are the pursuers, think you could give us a hand with them?"

"Uh...not right now, the trams going a little too fast right now, and I don't enjoy dying as much as you guys seem to do. Just wait until we get there, and we'll slaughter them."

Another stray shot impacted Lance's forehead, causing him to bounce around in his helmet, feeling every single head injury again, a thousand times over with each ricochet off his own mask.

"Shit, Lance, are you going to be alright?" Knight asked, with an relatively small amount of concern for him. But, Lance didn't even bother to answer, as he growled at the opposing tram car, and formed two more biotic whips in his hands, gleaming an impressive yellow in the midst of the dark space they were in.

Apparition slowly walked backwards, before saying: "Wait a minute Lance...not here, not here, not here, not here," she repeated, rather quickly. "They're a bit too far away to attack...going on an angry streak will only get us killed...for the love of God, put it down!" Lance ignored her, and faced the gap facing the enemy car. Suddenly, he leaped forward, but due to the intense speed of their own tram, he fell underneath it, lost from sight forever.

"YOU GUYS ARE REALLY PISSING ME OOOOOFFFFFFF!" the crazed Dragoon said, as he flew in the air. But before he fell out of reach from the trams, he wrapped one of his whips around the Alliance car, and began to climb on it, wrapping each length of his weapon around his arm, each time he crossed a part of it. Eventually, his entire arm glowed yellow, obnoxiously. Before the Alliance soldiers fired at him from the top, Knight and Apparition kept them pinned behind cover. Finally, Lance finished his climb, and literally tackled an enemy trooper, while three others tried restrain him. The four disappeared in the interior of the car, leaving only the sounds of struggling, and the occasional grunt. Knight, and Apparition waited silently, for a whole minute. Nothing happened.

"Should we be wor-" The car across them exploded, in an impressive outburst of a biotic yellow that shined the way for the flying metal debris to follow, as if it had a conscious mind to avoid hitting the cart behind them with a volley of broken metal plating.

As their own tram finished rocking from the explosion, the seven soldiers stood dumbfounded again, at the sight they had just witnessed. Knight, nearly getting popped by an airborne metal spike struggled to stop himself from fainting, and instead leaned over the railing, hoping to vomit through his helmet. Apparition reappeared, as a result of her born instinct to turn invisible, in the sight of extreme danger, and exploding trams, definitely counted as peril. The five Assault Troopers had a combination of moving in the fetal position, poking themselves in the hand to make sure that they weren't dreaming of being alive, and yelling the word "shit" over and over.

Apparition spoke up suddenly: "Was...was that Lance, did he do that?" Knight didn't need to answer that, as it was more rhetorical, due to many of their experiences with dealing with his rage, and murder tendencies.

The tram finally arrived at the area, but as the seven operatives stepped off, Apparition caught sight of another tram that had been caught in an explosive mine's blast, but still contained three inhabitants, who were still armed, and intact.

"Hey," Apparition said. "Looks like there's a few guys left from that trap, I'll take care of them, you guys need to provide backup for Dr. Eva."

* * *

_1 hour, and 15 minutes into the mission..._

As soon as Apparition's tram met the stunned Alliance shuttle, she cloaked herself, and leaned against a wall near the entrance.

"Shepard, did Cerberus just send an empty tram to pick us up?"

"Shut up '_Assley_', I don't like the look of this car."

"What?"

"Throw an incendiary grenade inside of it, clear it out!"

The tram lit ablaze, with a female figure, entirely made of flames ran madly out of it, but was caught by a stasis field. After a few seconds, the form revealed her true self, armor scorched by the numerous flames.

"Seriously, there's Phantoms this early on?" Shepard complained, before pulling the trigger against Apparition's face.

* * *

_1 hour, and 17 minutes into the mission..._

Knight walked back to meet Apparition again, but instead, found an Asari, a female Alliance soldier, and a slightly pink N7, holding the severed head of a Phantom.

"Holy shit, it's Shepar-" Knight proclaimed, before being hit in the face by Shepard's thrown object.

* * *

_1 hour, and 17 minutes into the mission..._

"My God, those three guys are tearing the mission apart." Louis fearfully said, before moving his Atlas back toward the main entrance. "I won't be able to intercept them in time..." He lifted up his omni-tool. "Gentlemen of Cerberus, or at least, any friendlies that could hear me, Shepard is tearing everything apart! He's moving in toward Dr. Eva!" His Atlas scaled the rocky steps, before finally meeting the company of Engineers, or what was left of them.

"What the hell? Frank, did you do this?" He saw Frank, leaning over to finish off another engineer crawling away from him.

"One guy abused his turret, then...THEN...everyone else attacked to stop me, they were ALL EVIL!"

"You killed all the Engineers!"

"I HAD TO!"

Louis groaned. "Fuck...damn this mission to Hell...get inside the Atlas, that sandstorm near-by is getting closer, and the base won't be secure anymore, with all the blown out entrances. I don't see any shuttles left, except that one in the distance, but he can't see us. Ugh...lets just hope that Shepard dies before he finds Eva."

* * *

_1 hour, and 25 minutes into the mission..._

_"I can't see where you're comin' from_

_But I know just what you're runnin' from_

_And what matters ain't the who's baddest but the_

_Ones who stop you falling from your ladder, baby"_

As the cruel pandemonium raged outside, George sat back, relaxing in his chair, while joyfully relaxing in a musical bliss, away from the explosions, away from the gunfire, and away from body parts. Yet, even as his vision was closed by the almost physical sensation of the sounds, he managed to peak out the shuttle's window, revealing a thin woman, running from an N7 soldier.

_"This ain't no place for no hero_

This_ ain't no place for no better man"_

He quickly sat up in his seat, dropping his cup of top ramen on the floor. Outside, the shuttle moved in toward the ground. He opened the door, and quickly motioned for the woman to jump in.

_"I can't see where you're comin' from_

_But I know just what you're runnin' from"_

Dr. Eva quickly leaped inside, to the dismay of the soldier outside, who had flipped the bird toward the aircraft. George literally jumped in his seat, sighing with relief, and began flying back to base.

But, before victory was finally secured, another shuttle collided with his, causing an earthquake inside the vehicle itself, which ruptured the inside of it, and paraded itself with the broken sounds of glass and machinery. The two shuttles landed on a near-by roof, nearly crushing the N7 soldier, and one of his companions. Dr. Eva lifted herself up, and looked at the music-loving pilot, who had been crushed by a pile of heavy metal. Without any hint of emotion, she began breaking open the door, as the sounds of music rang in her ears.

_"This ain't no place for no better man_

_This ain't no place for no hero"_

* * *

_1 hour, and thirty minutes into the mission..._

Sarah, exhausted, battered, and wounded, yelled before she left her cover, to fire one last shot at the enemy sniper. But instead of red, in her scope, she saw a fiery explosion of orange that covered the building. She looked up in amazement, before seeing an Atlas walk toward her.

"Hey, Sarah, you should get in, a sandstorm's coming." Louis said, as he used his Atlas to motion toward the looming wall of sand. "Just to let you know, this is not a thinly veiled pick-up line, as Frank's already in here with me, and he keeps trying to hack into the damned mech!"

Sarah nodded in agreement, and began climbing in, crushed between the two people, inside the tiny space.

"Alright, now all we have to do, is wait for a shuttle to pick us up."

Then, the Normandy SR-2 flew away from the station.

"Wait...was that the...?"

Then, hundreds of Reapers appeared in the sky.

"Shit."

* * *

_**Alright...finally done with this chapter. **_

_**Just on a note, I know that there weren't any Engineers, Nemesis's Phantoms, Dragoons, and Atlas's in "Priority: Mars". But, I need to include the whole team in every mission, or else characters like "Lance", or "Apparition" wouldn't show up until wayyyy, later.**_

_**Also, I wanted to make the entire team, have more roles than in the previous chapters. So, I made Bob more of a secondary character. Granted that this fanfic is about a Cerberus Trooper's adventures, I also wanted to give his squad bigger roles, since they also have some sort of comedic value. But, this story is mainly about Bob, and will mostly take place from his perspective. **_

_**So, please review, if you want to. I'm still a bit rusty at writing action fics.**_

_**Also, on another note, I do not own Mass Effect, 300, or the song: "Short Change Hero".**_

_**You know...just making sure.**_


	7. Mars Aftermath

_**Note: I know I promised more Bob, but, since I left three characters out of most of the action last time, I decided to host them in their own little chapter.**_

* * *

_1 hour, and 40 minutes into the mission..._

When you think about the Alliance, you think of this massive military power, this...physical embodiment of a huge, collaborative mind of innovation, endurance, and ambition. Yet, Sovereign: one Reaper, one single mind, nearly destroyed its fleet through sheer strength. Military strategists were at a lost for words, moral that had been so prevalent in the ranks almost dissipated instantly, and this image of a powerful human force was shredded up...distorted...all because of one of these creatures, a hostile reunion of organic material, and machinery, that entered the territory of the weaker flesh, and bone.

And...almost twenty of those "Reapers" entered Mars's atmosphere.

"Shit." Louis said, quickly losing the accent that had characterized him for so long. The pilot, after seeing the looks on Sarah, and Frank's faces, quickly cleared his throat, and said: "Uh, I think...presume that the Reapers are heading toward us, uh..." He was unable to speak, and instead found his mind in a conflict, between trying to say things in British accents, and trying to react properly to the monsters that were about to meet them. Before he was on the verge of losing his mind, Frank grabbed his shoulders.

"Get us to safety, before the Reapers catch us, and turn the Atlas into a husk!"

Sarah pushed the Engineer out of the way, and pointed to a large cave in the distance. Immediately, the Atlas rose to life, and began moving. Unfortunately, the cave was in the same direction, as what they were supposed to run away from. Louis caught sight of the massive sandstorm, that had seemingly increased its pace, and began rushing over the Alliance facility it came in contact with, forcing it behind its massive wall like a wildfire making its way across the bark of a tree, causing anything it touches to become uninhabitable, and its embers reminiscent of its last embrace to the land, as if it wanted to stay in its battered remains, like something of value was there, and above it all Reapers hovered behind it to pick apart what was left over, stopping any chance of an intact treasure.

But even with the huge wall towering over them, the Atlas defiantly rushed toward the cave that was mere moments away from being hit.

Unfortunately, just as the Atlas made it to the entrance of the cave, it was suddenly slammed against a solitary rock next to it, followed by a wave of sand that clouded the viewing window. The mech stumbled, arms flailing, and fell on its back, nearly shattering the earth underneath it. Frank, who was a little too close to the window, was thrown back, and hit the back of the vehicle with a sickening bang. Louis's chair swiveled backward, and left him hanging over Frank's unconscious self. Sarah, who was already in the back, only fell down, but quickly picked herself up, before trying to open the Atlas window. To her dismay, the window lost its clear view of the martian landscape, and was instead replaced with a hopeless collage of red, and brown.

"Shiyaat!" Sarah yelled. She caught sight of Louis directly above her crouching state, struggling to free himself of the seat-belt between him, and the cold, hard floor.

"Damn this thing..." Louis said to himself. Now, being aware that a sane teammate was near him, he harshly cleared his throat, and announced: "A little help would be nice."

Sarah crossed her arms, and silently stared at the pilot.

At that moment, Louis finally regained his full perceptions, and found that his visor was only inches away from Sarah's, with his seatbelt being the only thing that's keeping the two from being a little too close.

"Well...ah, I can see why you're, um...are you enjoying this?"

Sarah leaned to the side immediately, and dragged her sniper rifle across the jagged floor, almost joyfully as soon as Louis showed the first sign of fear behind his helmet. She rolled to the very edge of the mech, and aimed it at Louis's struggling self.

"Wa-wa-wait! I was just kidding, you aren't really going to kill me over that, will you?"

Unfortunately, the sound of a gunshot entered his ears. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Instead, he found himself, colliding with the ground.

"Ooof!" He gasped. He looked up, and saw Sarah giving him a side-ways look, as she huddled against her bent legs in the uncomfortably small Atlas. Above him, he saw the belt, viciously split in two, with the end glowing with a vibrant red. "You could have just told me that you were going to shoot the bloody thing out!" He covered his face before leaning back. "For God's sake, you could have killed me!" Another groan caused him to gaze around the area. He found himself, under an glass dome that had been drowned by a thick blanket of dust, while in another corner, he saw a still Frank strewn across the floor. Suddenly panicking, he demanded, "All right, alright, I know I said otherwise, but just shoot me with that Widow! Alright, no need to prolong this whole thing, we can just resurrect ourselves when we get back! No need to starve ourselves!"

She shook her head, and reached into her back pocket, revealing only two thermal clips that created a mocking glow inside the dark cockpit. Louis sighed in desperation.

"Shit."

"Wiyacandaus thuis!" She said, her voice suddenly trying to dominate the static plaguing her tone.

"Okay, okay...one for you, and one for me."

She motioned toward Frank in the corner, and growled venomously at the shock-stricken pilot. "Fac...yiyiyu!"

"Well, are you going to let _all_ of us starv-" He paused, as a thin streak of red sand and dust flew down between the two. They both looked up, and found that the glass dome had a threatening crack in the center, accompanied by a symphony of broken glass sounds. Suddenly, the Nemesis kicked the pilot away, and lined her sniper sight toward the busted dome. Louis looked at her with horror. "Oh hell...you can't be serious..."

For a short second, the entire cockpit was illuminated with a bright white flash, followed by a small torrent of sand shooting through the darkness, which smashed against the three, slowly filling up the empty space around them. Now, with a fierce determination, she fired again, completely shattering the dome above, and turning their world into an ocean of dust.

"Sar-ah!" He said, as he struggled inside the onslaught. As his arms flailed in the sand, he felt a cool gust of wind tickling his gloved hand. The pilot clawed his way through, and finally saw the relieving sight of sunlight, lingering in the calm horizon. He sighed, as he saw only small, lingering dots of sand scattered throughout the air, instead of the huge wall that they were just struck by. But, his lightened state of being soon ended, when he caught sight of Sarah, gently setting Frank on the ground. "What the hell, Sarah?"

"Iraaf?" She muttered, obviously shaken by the event.

"Oh, I wish you could explain everything, I wish your voice wasn't replaced with that damned static! For God's sake, we could have been stuck in there, how did you know that the sand wasn't deep?" He slid against a barely covered rock-face, occasionally hitting his head against it.

She shrugged.

"You didn't? Oh, that's just brilliant, fucking brilliant! We could have been stuck there! Seriously, what was the problem with just shooting ourselves in there? We'd just get back to HQ', prim and proper again!"

The Nemesis walked toward the pilot, and turned to the side.

"What the-"

With a swift move of her leg, she knocked Louis against the rock he was just leaning against, causing him to bounce off, and hit the ground, his stomach flopping against it, and another small shower of dust plummeted against his ripped suit, further darkening it again. From his prone state, he looked up, and saw her knee flying toward him. Louis's head flew back; the shock against his helmet was enough to knock the wind out of him. The pilot felt a hand grab the back of his neck, and in an instant, his barely conscious body was thrown into the air. Again, he slammed into the hard, Martian rockface, this time causing him to roll to the side uncontrollably. After he stopped moving, while at the same time gasping for breath, he waited for a few moments for his inevitable 'arse-kicking' at the hands of the psychotic Nemesis in front of him. Instead, while slowly looking up again, he saw the Nemesis slowly turning to the side, motioning for him to notice Frank waking up.

"We've suffered burns, cuts, grenades filled with acid...I got poisoned by a Turian! Sure, Frank would have starved to death back there, but come on, no one's truly dying, we can't die Sarah! We suffer through shit every day, and you think him dying in the Atlas would have been the worst of it?" He finally got up. "If you didn't want anyone to suffer, you didn't need to blow the damn dome off! For all you knew, the sand could have been _much_ deeper! We could have died, stuck in the ground, just like that!" He looked at the Nemesis again, but instead of another hostile approach toward him, he found a more solemn, and still person in front of him. As if he suddenly lost all traces of anger at that moment, he said, with a smaller voice, "You're the most sane person of the team...how could you...wait, this isn't about...'avoiding' suffering...you just didn't want to leave a teammate behind."

The Nemesis, after a few moments, simply nodded at that revelation.

Before Louis was able to make an effort to speak again, another voice interrupted them.

"Oh fuck...my head..." said Frank, as he sat up clumsily in the soft sand that he was covered in.

The two walked toward the waking Engineer, before stumbling back at the horrid sounds of his screaming.

"HOLY SHITTHEFUCK!" Frank tried to crawl away backwards, with his back still up.

"What's wrong Frank?" said Louis, as he attempted to grab hold of Frank's arms.

The furious Engineer pushed Louis away. "You didn't notice..." He frantically began pointing fingers at the direction behind them. "...THAT?"

Sarah looked behind herself first, and gave an electronically distorted "HOLY SHIT!", before grabbing her rifle. Louis immediately regretted looking back, and hid behind the, almost battle ready Nemesis.

And their reactions, didn't even do the whole situation justice.

When the two fought, their natural, genetically enhanced perceptions were simply replaced by countless thoughts of fiery anger toward each other, and as a result, they were blind, and deaf toward everything around them, and merely considered the giant shadow that was looming over them, was a mountain. But instead, only meters away, was a Reaper that was observing the three, accompanied by a small squad of their own troops.

Louis grabbed Sarah's shoulders, with her rifle trapped between his arms. "We're screwed! We're going to get turned into husks!"

Sarah pushed him away to fire at a Cannibal that was advancing toward them, but was only answered by a dry click in the air.

"Remember Sarah? You're still out of ammo...just do SOMETHING!"

The Nemesis flipped her sniper rifle, with her grip on the barrel, and faced the horde of husks advancing on them with a defiant gaze. Frank eventually stood up, and lifted his fists up. Louis, lacking combat experience outside his Atlas, grabbed a small rock on the ground, and put it in a throwing position.

Louis screamed as a Husk jumped in the air, and wrapped its arms around him. "OH GOD, IT'S GOING TO EAT ME!"

Before Sarah finished her swing, she paused as the Marauder in front of her stopped in its tracks. She looked at Frank, who was in the same relative position as her.

Suddenly, she was knocked back into a small hill of sand by a hysterical Louis, who looked like he was trying to break free out of a husk's bear hug.

"Get away from me you freak!" He yelled, as he pressed his palm hard against the creature's forehead.

"I think he's trying to hug you..." Frank said in astonishment.

"For God's sake, get him off, he's ripping my tuxedo with his claws!"

Frank finally turned around, but instead found himself only an inch away from a husk's scowl. The creature's face remained calm, and static, even as the small remnants of sand continued to blanket its eyes. Louis finally ripped the other husk away from himself, but fell down in the process. He rolled over on his stomach, and struggled to crawl in the opposite direction, before finding three more husks in front of his direction, all carrying the same, exact, drooping facial expressions. He tried to move again, before suddenly stopping as an outstretched arm nearly blocked his view of the sun, looming over everything. Still carrying the same, horrific face that had terrorized the Citadel, Eden Prime, and Horizon, the husk extended its arm even farther, with an outstretched palm. At that moment, Louis's face drastically changed, even to a farther extent than the husks themselves, as he finally noticed what it was doing.

This "husk"...was trying to help him up.

He reluctantly pulled himself up to eye level with the creature, but stared at Frank and Sarah again. "Uh...did we happen to miss something during the mission briefing?"

"Eii eroidaa." Sarah muttered, with her synthesized voice struggling to keep calm.

"I was uh...'busy', with my turret during the meeting, but knowing Bob, he would have been screaming about 'friendly' Reapers on Mars...wait, are the Reapers helping us?" Frank's voice maintained its insanity, but presented it in a totally new, and alien tone. It wasn't from his desire of machinery, but the fear that had crept into his head.

"They're not violently mutilating us, are they?"

"Ask them something."

"Uh, no."

"There's no way I'm going to-"

"Come on! They're almost half-machine, you love synthetics!"

"SHUT UP, DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT THE NON-ORGANICS AGAIN! THESE MONSTERS DON'T DESERVE THEIR STATUS!"

Immediately after Frank screamed, the husks tensed up, in unison, before finally calming down at the sound of Louis clearing his throat.

"Uh, okay...okay. Can you understand, me?" He said, taking short pauses between every word, and accidentally growling a few times, as if he were trying to imitate them.

Amazingly enough, a few husks who were staring Sarah down nodded in a synchronized manner.

"Oh...um, are you, are you going to kill us?"

They shook their heads sideways.

"Good...good, uh, you know if, there's a way ou-" Louis stopped short in his speech, as he caught the sight of a nearby cannibal being eaten by another cannibal, who tore off its head, and engulfed it in its huge, luminescent blue mouth. The face of the eaten creature dissipated, as it was forced into its mouth by a swirling cloud, and finally clustered together to disappear in small, revolting blue sparks. Finally, parts of what had been eaten suddenly grew all over its face, strewn all over messily in red chunks.

Sarah finally turned, and saw the British atlas pilot clutching his stomach, with one hand, and his lower visor in the other.

"HURGGGGAHBLAA!" said Louis, as he barely managed to chuck out single sounds using his mouth, which was occupied by something else at that moment. Everyone stared at him, and noticed a faint green threatening to engulf the very back of his visor, and cover the small outlines of the eyes that could be seen through the thin glass plating. To the pathetic dismay of everyone around him, he bent over, and finally collapsed to the floor.

Sarah, almost vehemently, asked him to talk to the husks instead. Immediately, he reacted, and said nervously:

"Uh, yeah...listen...do you know where we could find a vehicle, a ship maybe, to get out of here? Cerberus officials encouraged us to not 'off ourselves', in order to save expensive equipment." His voice nearly trailed off, before he interrupted himself with a cough. "It would be really nice if you could help."

As if on que, the reaper, who was somehow crouching above them, lowered itself to the ground, and opened the doors, bathing the ground around them in a luminescent grey. Frank, responded by turning to Sarah.

"Yeah...I want you to know that I LOVE synthetics...but despite what everyone says about my so-called 'robot fetish'...I DO NOT WANT TO GO INSIDE ONE! ESPECIALLY A FUCKING REAPER!"

Sarah, gave an almost uncaring shrug, before heaving the unconscious Louis over her shoulders, but caused herself to panic when she heard the faint sound of a wet slosh from the inside of his helmet.

"I guess that means we're goin-" Frank suddenly stopped as a husk charged toward him, with its arms outstretched, and claws out. "Shit..."

But instead of a violent maiming from a zombie, he was instead wrapped in between its arms, as Louis had been not too long ago. Even as he was lifted up by the sheer strength of that seemingly frail form, Frank was still convinced that he was actually getting a hug...from a husk. He weakly returned the embrace, before being let go. As he stood there, he watched the misshapen creature walk away, in the same undifferentiated waltz that all reaper forces marched with. Yet, it turned its head, and gave an overly outstretched grin past its shoulder, and toward the two dumbfounded Cerberus personnel.

Thankfully, the two maintained their emotional anonymity from the inside of their helmets.

* * *

"Here, can you hold on to Louis for us, at least, until he wakes up?" asked Frank, before turning to the Nemesis next to him.

The banshee gave a wide grin, and took the motionless body from an unconcerned Sarah. The...Asari...held him up with one hand, while its own body was shaking fervently. Then suddenly, Louis, and the banshee both disappeared, with a lingering blue in their wake.

The inside of a Reaper, had carried an unpleasant feeling for Sarah. Wires were strewn all over huge stretch of alien machinery, and eventually coiled around, connecting together at eventual points. Where ever she went, she was always stuck in a crowd of those...creatures, who created a bizarre symphony with the cries that resounded from the inside of their mouths. And from the inside of the crowd, even after being crushed between the flabs of artificial flesh, spikes that held copses rose above the mob of husks, and blocked out that familiar grey light in her vision, and forced her to always walk in the opposite direction, even she was just walking in circles. The massive expanse of the interior gave a hopeless dread, that deemed it necessary to remind her that everything here was living. Yet, it what constituted the word "living" felt very different for the Nemesis, as she was almost engulfed in the dying groans of the creatures around her. No sign, of a single "living" thing was found, as she was inside something that also carried things that constituted its inhabitants; it had the misfortune of being hollow, distorted, and repetitious. She stood out in this expanse of misery, but something managed to scare her more. Louis, Frank, and herself...they were the only "good" things in that place, a pure light shining in what was soon going to be a dark, and mechanical universe. However, what worried her, was that the light they carried was dimmed, and the only, unalienable, honest, moral trait they could carry as Cerberus soldiers, and grasp onto...was the fact that they were alive.

Eventually, after exploring a little too far from the main entrance, she finally found herself in a location where all light seemed to disappear, and was only stuck with the same, damn groans that was always being repeated throughout the areas. She quickly retraced her steps backwards, and finally reentered the spaces that held the huge grey light, which continued to illuminate everything near it. After finally taking her first footsteps into the light, a small husk, only half her size, lumbered along, but stopped short of its movement when it caught sight of her. It disappeared into the darkness, but reappeared only a few seconds later with a huge box in its hand that had "Combat Engineer Turret Thingy" scribbled over it. The husk pressed it into her hands, and waddled off, leaving the Nemesis undoubtedly confused.

Sarah just stood their, motionless, with the box still held in her outstretched arms. She intended to just leave the object, and be done with it, before seeing the sight of Frank near the reaper's open hanger door, looking out into the mouth of the Martian land that slowly lowered itself from his field of view. But in that view of Mars, she saw a confused landscape, being shifted around crazily by the sandstorms that clawed its way around it. Frank was staring into the psychological foil of himself. The land always changed, never stopping to linger in one location, like an insane individual that always changed his, or her mind, never being true to themselves, and becoming multiple distinct identities with their own mindset.

However, the Combat Engineer in front of her stayed the same, still stuck in one single emotional struggle that defined him, even more explicitly to the others around. But what she felt about Frank was only understanding. His love of synthetics could have originated from his own disgust of organics, who were too free for their own good. They were unrestricted, only holding on to anything that appealed to them. Like synthetics, they yearned for things that benefited them, even when their own desires could be detrimental to the causes of other organics, causing a whole conundrum that was entirely made up of false, and empty pursuits, that destroyed each other. Yet, after countless failures, this continued throughout history, and still lingered in the air now. Organics to him, were a new kind of machine. Not the ones he was fond of, but of another kind. They were animals, programmed to survive, in whatever social environment they were in. Synthetics usually make logical, and calculating decisions, designed to chase their own "desires", whether they were trying to be freed from slavery, or trying to prevent disasters from happening. But their own needs almost never cause destruction on those who didn't deserve the consequences. In his eyes, they were more "living", than any organism he met before.

Of course, she could find so many fallacies in that train of thought, but it wouldn't really help weaken it, by ridiculing him, or explicitly trying to change him. In fact, it would only strengthen his own hate of organics, thus, driving him deeper into his own little mental hole of self-depression.

Suddenly the door closed suddenly, startling the Engineer.

Sarah sighed, and decided to appeal to his good nature, which was rarely shown to other people he interacted with. She walked over to him and planted the turret box near his still feet. After looking at her, and then looking at the turret, he literally squealed with an infectious joy, causing the husk near them to also squeal...in a way that was possible for it. The Nemesis solemnly grinned at Frank, patted him on the back, and walked away, trying to find a better way to spend her time, during the duration of her..."trip".

* * *

_**Alright, done...finally! Sorry about the huge wait guys, I haven't had much time to work on this, since I've been trying to balance time between this, summer homework, and Borderlands 2. Don't worry, I'll still keep this story going, and I'll have Bob in the next chapter, since this story had so little of him lately.**_


End file.
